


Chaste

by ashamedbliss



Category: Muse
Genre: Age Difference, Angst, Blow Jobs, Car Accidents, Character Death, Classroom Sex, Comedy, First Time, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Minor Character Death, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot, Teacher-Student Relationship, Teenagers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-18
Updated: 2014-06-17
Packaged: 2018-01-25 11:04:47
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 9
Words: 40,839
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1646354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ashamedbliss/pseuds/ashamedbliss
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Dom's in his early 20s, outrageously attractive (obviously) and a sex ed teacher. He's also a nervous virgin. Matt's a bold 17 year old student who discovers "Mr H's" secret shame. And he decides to take matters into his own hands." - mkmeme prompt</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [easilyerased](https://archiveofourown.org/users/easilyerased/gifts).



“I’m... I’m sorry, did you just say _sex education_?” Dominic asked, clasping and unclasping his hands together in his lap. “But I’m a French teacher!”

“And a very good one at that,” Hayley replied, reshuffling the papers on the desk of her spacious office. “But Frank is just getting too old to teach sex education; he doesn’t understand how the contraceptive pill works and seems to believe the pull-out method is one hundred percent safe. I can’t allow him to teach my students anymore,” she said with a sigh, shaking her head slightly. “At least History doesn’t change that much with the times, I suppose.”

Dominic wasn’t listening. He could feel the sweat beginning to bead at the back of his neck. “I’m not suitable for this job, I mean, I... I...” he stuttered, and Hayley let out a quiet laugh.

“Dominic, I’m sure you’ll be fine. Your sexual orientation really does not matter; I’m sure you know how it all works for straight couples, yes?” She didn’t give Dominic time to answer. “You’ll only be teaching the older ones, and by the time they’re at that age they know most of what is going on. I would never have put you in this position but we have legal requirements to fill.”

Dominic continued to pale as Hayley handed him some documents.

“Here’s the sex-ed timetable and your syllabus. Don’t worry, it won’t affect any of your A-Level French classes but Mademoiselle Delabarre might have to take up a couple of your Year 9 classes.” She paused, eyes dancing across Dominic’s features. “Oh relax, Dom, I wouldn’t have chosen you unless I was entirely confident in your abilities. You’re young so you’ll connect with them better, and hopefully get the message across too. Plus the girls are much more likely to listen to an attractive teacher, it’s been proven by research.”

Eyebrows almost in his hairline, Dominic made a quiet squeaking noise as he attempted to reply. Thankfully, the principal didn’t hear him. “Go on,” she said, smiling. “And good luck.”

“I think I’ll need it,” he managed to say, before escaping from her office. The corridor was cooler, and Dominic pretended to begin reading his notes while he calmed down, as students filtered past during their lunch hour.

“Someone looks a bit flushed,” a voice called, and Dominic had to refrain from groaning out loud. A mop of spiky black hair came into view, surrounded by a large group of now giggling friends. “Don’t worry mate, I would be too if I’d just had a private meeting with Miss Turner.”  
Matthew Bellamy’s friends oohed and ahhed and giggled as they continued down the corridor. “I’m not your mate, I’m your teacher,” Dominic reminded Matthew, but he could hear the weakness in his voice.

“Sorry, _sir_ ,” Matthew shouted down the corridor, and Dominic flushed at the way the world was drawled out. He hurried in the opposite direction, only slowing down once his office door was shut behind him. He leaned heavily against the wood, trying to work out just why Matthew Bellamy affected him so much.

He’d taught Matthew two years ago, as he came to the end of his French GCSE. Then, he had been a little bit arrogant but still an excellent student, despite the struggle he had with his pronunciation. Over the course of the last academic year, during which Dominic had not seen his former student in his lessons (he was almost relieved to find that Matthew would not be continuing with his French studies), he’d grown from a boy into a man. He’d finally had a growth spurt, albeit a brief one, and his features had sharpened and defined, his eyes seeming bluer and colder than before. He’d dyed his hair the kind of black that’s almost blue, and had taken to wearing tight, long sleeved tops with jeans for most of his days in sixth form.

That wasn’t all, though, Dominic realised as he sat down in his chair with a sigh. He’d always been arrogant, but over the last year he’d shown he had reasons to be as confident as he was. He had played guitar in one of the bands for the end of term concert, and Dominic would be lying if he said that he wasn’t amazed by the performance. Matthew still maintained good grades, and had dated one of the prettiest girls in school the year before. There had been whispers in the staff room that Matthew had been caught around the back of the bike sheds with his trousers down and his dick being sucked by one of the Year 11 boys, but Dominic dismissed it as a terrible rumour.

Although it had got him thinking.

Rolling his eyes at himself, Dominic began to shuffle through his papers, reading through the syllabus to work out what he would be teaching as of Monday. Looked like his plans for a quiet weekend of planning French lessons would be out of the window. Now, he’d be planning sex-education lessons and watching videos on YouTube.

Hayley had failed to ask him if he’d ever had sex.

He hadn’t.

It’s not like the opportunity hadn’t been there. He’d just either been too drunk or too busy or _sorry love I like cock_. Although he’d never really said the last one, because he wasn’t that outgoing.

In fact, he seemed to remember that he’d squeaked out “I like boys” to the woman before him. This was two weeks ago. Dominic is twenty three.

Groaning, Dominic’s eyes landed on his schedule. No sooner than had he scanned the first three names of the list, he let out a grunt and let his head fall so his forehead bumped his desk.

Matthew Bellamy would be in his first ever sex-education class.

~

It was quarter past two, and Matthew was five minutes for his sex education class. He didn’t really mind, for two reasons. One, he’d just had a desperately-needed cigarette and he’d just heard all the gossip from Kelly, and two, he was pretty sure he knew everything about sex and didn’t need further education on it.

Unless it was about achieving orgasm via self-penetration. He could do with some booster classes in that subject.

He expected good ol’ Frank the Skank (as the students had so dearly named their elderly sex education teacher), but as Matthew burst into the science classroom he found that the teacher was no other but Mister Howard.

“Sir,” he said, giving a mock salute as he strode to the back of the class, smirking as he could hear the titters of the girls giggling.

“Can you shut the door, please?” Mister Howard asked. Matthew liked the way his hands were clasped in front of him. They looked strong.

“Don’t worry sir, Luce and Ryan are just finishing off a spliff out back. They’ll be in in a bit,” Matthew replied chirpily, the classroom bursting into loud laughter as Mister Howard paled and pulled on the collar of his shirt a little. It  contrasted well against his tanned skin, and the tendons in his neck moved as he swallowed loudly. Matthew perched himself on one of the high stools in the science lab, feet dangling freely. Mister Howard shook his head as he realised it was just a joke, and went to go close the door himself.

Matthew tried not to stare at his teacher’s arse in the tight suit trousers, but he was only a man after all.

“Okay, everyone,” Mister Howard called somewhat quietly, trying to bring the class to attention. “Guys, come on, I’ll let you go early as soon as we’re done.” That made everyone shut up. The prospect of being let out of school early during the last lesson was never normally offered for other subjects.

“Today, we’re going to talk about contraception,” Mister Howard began, taking off his suit jacket and hanging it over the back of his chair. “I would normally start with how the whole thing works, plus the different--”

“How what works, sir?” Tom called from next to Matthew. They sniggered quietly.

Mister Howard rolled his eyes. “Sex, Thomas. How sex works. I presume you’re familiar with it?”

Tom paled as Mister Howard continued to talk. “He’s not as much of a pushover as he was last year,” he whispered to Matthew.

“Well we’ve got to raise our game then, haven’t we?” Matthew said, smiling innocently at Mister Howard as all of the class chirped in reply before smirking darkly at Tom.

“Oh god, you’ve got a plan haven’t you?” Tom said, but a grin had crept across his face.

“Surely you’ve heard the rumours that Mr H is gay?” Matthew asked, and Tom nodded. Sadly, Matthew’s social circle hadn’t managed to find out much else about the tight-lipped teacher over the past two years. “Well, let’s have a bit of fun with that,” he said, turning his attention back to their teacher.

“So we all understand why condoms are used? Great!” Mister Howard said cheerily, and Matthew was sure he saw the teacher’s hands shaking. “So now I’m going to pass around some condoms. Don’t open these yet, we’ll go through it step by step. One each, you all have to practice.”

“I don’t even like dick, sir,” one of the girls, Tina, said in a thick Essex accent. Matthew snorted with laughter as Mister Howard stuttered as he stood in front of her desk. “My hands are going nowhere near a condom in my whole life, especially not with these nails on. They're brand new!”

The class was howling with laughter as Mister Howard continued silently passing around the condoms. “Now,” he said, voice shaky. “I’m going to pass around the models. Tina, if you don’t want to do this, you don’t have to. If you don’t feel comfortable doing it, any of you, you don’t have to. But it’s for your own good,” he reminded them as he began to hand out the phallic models.

“But sir, I don’t like the sensation to be dulled, you know what I mean?” Matthew said as Mister Howard passed his table, cocking his head and batting his eyelashes. As Mister Howard blushed and hesitated just in front of him, Matthew leaned forward. “No matter if I’m giving or receiving,” he whispered lowly, before sitting back and giving his red-faced teacher an angelic smile. He walked away quickly.

“Fuck, Matt, have you ever actually--”

“No, dick’ead,” Matthew whispered to Tom harshly. “But he doesn’t need to know that,” he said, looking back to their teacher again. He’d never say it to Tom, but now that Matthew could begin to see the outline of his teacher’s cock in his trousers, he remembered all those times he'd fantasised about sodomising Mister Howard.

“Okay,” Mister Howard said, holding a condom packet in his hand. “Everyone pick up your condoms. The first thing to do is to check it’s in date, and then to check that the packet hasn’t been opened in any way. Now I know this might not be the first thing on your mind in the heat of the moment, but if it’s not in date, it’s not safe. Remember: no condom, no sex. Don’t try using carrier bags or anything as a substitute.”

“Sounds like you know all about that, sir,” Tom called out, and Matthew giggled. A stern glare was sent in their direction.

“Make sure the condom is pushed into the opposite corner, and then carefully tear open the packet. Make sure you don’t rip the condom. Now you’ll see it’s rolled up,” Mister Howard said, looking at his students, all in mild disgust or awe of the condoms they were holding. “Now, pinch the tip and slowly roll it onto the model. Don’t do it until I can watch.”

“Pervert,” Matthew breathed. Tom was currently wiping his fingers all over the table. “Urgh, you are so gross,” he sighed, waiting for Mister Howard to appear before them. Tom put the condom on his model in an evidently practiced manner. Mister Howard turned to Matthew and waited for him to do the same.

“That’s for amateurs,” Matthew said, rolling one of his shoulders in a half shrug. “Look.”

Mister Howard’s eyes widened as Matthew popped the ring of the condom in his mouth, looking up through his eyelashes at the teacher. He gripped the base of the model as firmly as he would take himself in hand, and slowly brought it to his open mouth. With one swift movement, he took the model into his mouth and rolled the condom halfway down, before releasing the model with a pop. He made a show of wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “Well?” he asked, with his trademark cocky smile and the model still in his hand, glistening with saliva. He rolled the rest of the condom on easily. “I mean, sex is better without, but--”

“Yes, very well, good work,” Mister Howard stuttered out, hands shaking and tripping over his words as he moved onto the next students. Matthew watched as he positioned his hands to try and cover the hard on he was sporting. Matthew clucked his tongue.

“Hook, line, and sinker,” he said, smirking at Tom. “Impressed?”

“Mate, he is going to be gagging for something by the end of this lesson,” Tom said, laughing. A realisation struck him and his eyes widened. “Fuck... Matt, do you think he might be a virgin?”

Matthew’s eyebrows shot up as he looked to the front of the classroom, where Mister Howard now stood with bright red cheeks and his tie loosened just so. He put the condom on his own model with a little bit of fumbling and an awkward technique. Matthew would never put a condom on his own dick like that; it was so painfully obvious he’d only practiced on the models.

“Tom... I don’t often say this, but you might be right,” Matthew said, ignoring the friendly punch on his arm as his friend reacted to his admission. He zoned out as he watched Mister Howard explain how to remove a condom, especially if it was full of fluid. The girls made tittering noises as he stumbled his way through an explanation, and Matthew saw his opportunity.

“Ladies,” he said, Mister Howard looking up at the interruption. The girls turned to him. “If you want to really please your man, take it off like this.”

Matthew gently bit the tip of the condom, before holding the bottom of the model steady and slowly pulling the condom off so it hung from his mouth. A couple of the girls grimaced, but a few more giggled as he winked at them.

“Thank you, Mister Bellamy,” Mister Howard said, trying to continue his lesson, "but that goes against everything I have just said about not spilling the semen. Now, you can get quite a variety of condoms, in different shapes and sizes--”

“Comfort extra large for me,” Tom declared loudly, with a smug grin on his face. “What about you Matt?”

“Ribbed. Or flavoured. Banana is my favourite. Kind of an ironic flavour, don’t you think, Mister Howard?” he asked with a broad smile.

Their teacher looked a mixture of pissed off and turned on. He shook his head minutely. “I’ve never used flavoured condoms,” he said quietly, jaw set.

Matthew feigned disappointment, although he couldn’t say he wasn’t surprised. “Aw, why not? Does that mean you like the flavour of the normal ones? They’re nasty.” He paused for a second, purposefully. “Well, I mean, your _girlfriend_ must like the taste.”

Teacher and student stared at each other before Mister Howard turned away sharply. “That’s it for this week,” he announced, and immediately the sound of stools scraping against the floor filled the room. “Put the condoms and their wrappers in the bin, and bring the models to the front.”

Matthew was almost at the door before he heard his name. “Not you, Matthew,” Mister Howard called. “I want a word with you.”

“Later, Tom,” Matthew said lowly before he walked back into the middle of the classroom, leaning back against one of the workbenches near the whiteboard.  He looked down at his Converse and dumped his rucksack on the floor as he heard the door click shut.

“Your behaviour today was wholly inappropriate, Matthew,” Mister Howard said quietly, and Matthew looked up. The teacher was readjusting his tie around his neck; fidgeting.

“I was just trying to impart my knowledge, sir,” Matthew explained, putting his hands out behind him and stretching just enough so his top rode up. He saw Mister Howard’s eyes flash to the exposed skin, and tried his hardest not to smirk as he relaxed the stretch.

“Well, that’s my job as your teacher. I know you might be more... _knowledgeable_ than some of the other students--”

“And you, sir.”

_tbc..._


	2. Chapter 2

_“Well, that’s my job as your teacher. I know you might be more... knowledgeable than some of the other students--”_  
  
 _“And you, sir.”_  
  
“Excuse me?” Dominic said, not quite believing his ears.  
  
“It’s kind of obvious,” the teenager before him said, shrugging with one of his hands twirling in the air, looking for words. “Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me. Both of them, in fact,” Matthew added with a grin.  
  
Dominic wasn’t sure if he wanted to kiss him or hit him.  
  
“Don’t be so insolent,” Dominic snapped, walking around the back of his desk to begin packing away his own notes. He could hear the waver in his voice. “I allowed you to get away with too much this lesson. It won’t happen next week or you’ll be punished.”  
  
“Punished how, sir?”  
  
Dominic stopped in his tracks. The words were dripping with innocence, and when he looked up at Matthew, the boy lazily rolled his tongue from inside his cheek back into his mouth. Dominic took a deep breath in. “Do you think this is some kind of game?” he asked, trying to be angry but more focused on trying to will away his erection before he had to move again. “Do you think this is funny? Are you  _trying_  to wind me up?”  
  
Matthew paused, uncertainty on his face. He cocked his head to the side. “Is it working? I can’t tell if you’ve got a hard on now you’re behind that desk.” Matthew bit his bottom lip as he grinned, spreading his legs just the smallest amount.  
  
Dominic felt conflicted. It was going against all his morals and everything he’d been taught, but stood before him was a highly attractive student who was practically offering himself to him. Matthew stepped forward, propping his elbows on the desk and leaning towards Dominic. The teacher realised too late that Matthew could now see the bulge in his too-tight suit trousers.  
  
“I could take care of that for you,  _sir_ ,” Matthew purred, one of his hands tugging at the slashed neckline of his top. Dominic’s eyes dragged along his collarbone. “I could make you feel so good,” he whispered, the same hand heading out of Dominic’s line of sight under the table. Matthew emitted the tiniest, quietest sigh.  
  
Dominic’s eyes widened. “Are you... are you  _touching_  yourself? In my classroom?!” he spluttered, flushing instantly.  His nerves were shot, or perhaps he was far too aroused for his own good as he pushed a shaking hand through his somewhat damp hair.  
  
Matthew bit his lip. “I might be,” he said, lips then quirking up into a smile. “I can touch myself in the store room, though, if you’d rather,” he teased, jerking his head to the left to indicate the small storage cupboard full of lab coats and old text books. “I’ll let you join me, if you’re lucky.” Matthew had the audacity to wink as he pushed himself up from the desk, walking towards the store room with the slightest swagger in his hips. He stopped and turned back as he opened the door and flicked on the light. “Well? Are you coming?”  
  
Dominic blinked, as he bit back a remark about coming  _very_  soon if Matthew kept looking at him like that. It was so easy to forget that Matthew wasn’t his age, with the piercing blue eyes and the way he was pushing his sleeves up to the elbows and  _my god is that a tattoo?_  
  
Without a word, Dominic followed Matthew towards the cupboard. Matthew grabbed him by the tie and pulled him down to his level, close enough that they were breathing the same air. “I take it you’ve been kissed before.” Matthew asked, in that casual inflection of his that meant he wasn’t really expecting an answer.  
  
Dominic gave him one anyway. “Y-yes, of course,” Dominic said, feeling himself flush once more. Matthew released a little bit of the tie, allowing Dominic to stand fully upright.  
  
“And it wasn’t just your mum?” Matthew said with a small giggle, raising his eyebrows as he smirked.  
  
Dominic huffed indignantly. “It was Miss Turner, actually,” he said, pride surging through his veins as Matthew whistled lowly. He’d heard many of his students commenting on how attractive she was. “I mean, I was a bit drunk, but--”  
  
“Stop talking,” Matthew said, suddenly pulling Dominic by his tie into the store room. Dominic fumbled for the door handle and shut them both in, turning his head back around for his mouth to be caught by Matthew’s.  
  
His student’s lips were warm and skilful, and Dominic let out a moan of surprise as Matthew turned them both, pressing his teacher up against the wall. He turned to putty in Matthew’s hands which crawled all over his body; lacing through his hair, groping at his dick, loosening his tie and undoing the top three buttons of his shirt.  
  
“Jesus, Matthew,” Dominic said as Matthew broke away from his lips to nibble on his jaw line, feeling his student’s nose graze along the stubble there. His hands hovered just above Matthew’s skinny back, not quite sure if he should be touching him.  
  
He shouldn’t be allowing the student to be doing this at all, but he shoved that thought firmly aside.  
  
“Touch me sir, please, sir,” Matthew said breathily as his tongue flickered out beneath Dominic’s ear. As soon as he touched Matthew’s back, skin red hot even through his thin cotton top, Dominic’s fingers curled and he pressed his fingertips into the flesh as he moaned. “You sound so lovely like that sir,” Matthew said, drawing back to look Dominic in the eyes. Both men were panting. “I bet I could make you sing.”  
  
Dominic’s mouth dropped open as Matthew dropped to his knees. “Oh,” he breathed shakily. “Oh, my.”  
  
Matthew pressed his nose against the top of the distinct outline in his teacher’s trousers, inhaling deeply. “So big, sir,” he said, and Dominic could feel the warm breath against his cock. He was sure he twitched, and it was confirmed as Matthew let out a quiet giggle. “Someone’s eager,” he said, placing a chaste kiss to the head of it. He reached for Dominic’s belt buckle. “I love this bit,” he said as he began unfastening everything. “It’s like opening a present.”  
  
Dominic didn’t know what to do with himself. He was so hard he felt he might come right there and then if Matthew said another word. Of course, Dominic decided the best way to go about this was to keep Matthew talking. “You’ve... you’ve...” he said, train of thought evaporating as Matthew pulled down his fly and his cock fell forward, still constrained by his tight boxers.  
  
“Spit it out, Mister Howard,” Matthew said as he looked at the small damp patch in Dominic’s boxers. He looked up, smiling somehow angelically. “I certainly won’t.”  
  
“Oh, God,” Dominic whispered to himself as his head tipped back. He willed himself to calm down, if only slightly, and then he met the student’s eyes again. They were almost black, and further down his line of sight he was sure he could see Matthew’s jeans looking tight. “You’ve done this before, then?”  
  
Matthew did that half shrug again, bringing the fingers of his right hand to graze Dominic’s erection. “Enough times to know a good cock when I see one,” he replied, reaching for the elastic of Dominic’s boxers. With a look of wonder and mild amusement on his face, he pulled the underwear down carefully over Dominic’s erection, sliding boxers and trousers alike down his tanned thighs until they pooled at his ankles. “I’m kidding. I love sucking cock; I do it as often as I can,” he said, batting his eyelashes. “And  _my_ , sir, you do know how to spoil a man,” Matthew drawled languidly, and Dominic’s toes curled in his leather shoes. He could see the pre-come already leaking from the tip of his cock.  
  
“I’ve been imagining this for so long,” Matthew said, placing a kiss on the end of Dominic’s cock again. Unable to hold himself back any longer, Dominic’s hands flew to the back of Matthew’s head and twisted the younger man’s hair between his fingers. “I imagined you’d do that, too,” Matthew moaned in the middle of another kiss. “I spent half my French lessons just thinking about your cock,” he said as his kisses began to trail down towards the blond hair at the base of his dick. “I was always so distracted; I just couldn’t bear to take it at A-Level. God only knows what I would’ve gotten up to in the back of your classrooms,” he said with a wink. “Fuck, you smell so good.” Matthew’s hand grasped the base of Dominic’s cock, and his teacher let out a long, low groan. “How long has it been since someone touched you like this, sir?”  
  
Dominic’s tongue felt heavy in his mouth. “I... I’ve never... No one has...”  
  
Matthew’s other hand began to fondle his balls, all while slowly working his hand over his teacher’s dick, pretty and pink. “Shame. After me, no one will meet your expectations,” Matthew said, and Dominic looked down to see the point of his tie resting on the top of the mess of short black hair.  
  
“That’s a bit cocky, don’t you think?” Dominic rushed to say, voice wavering as Matthew looked up at him with those almost black baby blues. He let the very tip of his tongue touch the very tip of Dominic's cock and his teacher cried out.  
  
“I think you’ve answered your own question, sir,” he said, before he took Dominic into his mouth.  
  
Dominic moaned into a stream of curses, screwing his eyes shut as he desperately willed himself not to come at the sensation. It was unlike anything he’d felt before, the warm, wet heat stretching to accommodate him. Matthew’s rosy lips looked like they belonged there, wrapped around the head of his cock. His cheekbones were sharper than ever as his cheeks hollowed and he sucked on the head, lathing it with his tongue. His fingers continued stroking the rest of his teacher’s cock and teasing at his balls as Dominic panted above him, tendons stretching in his neck, the skin faintly glistening with sweat.  
  
“More,” Dominic demanded, and Matthew hummed as he happily obliged. Slowly, painfully so, he took more of Dominic’s cock into his mouth, his tongue never ceasing its ministrations and his movements only stopping when his nose brushed the golden curls of Dominic’s crotch. He barely hesitated before he withdrew again, setting a slow but sure rhythm as he looked up and batted his eyelashes at his teacher, fishing for a compliment.  
  
“Oh, God,” Dominic breathed as the warm air of Matthew’s breath rushed over the moist, re-exposed skin of his cock. Matthew’s tongue traced the thick vein on his underside for a few moments and Dominic groaned, twisting his hands sharply in Matthew’s hair. The student let out a high-pitched whine of approval, and Dominic could’ve sworn he grew even bigger at the sound. “I won’t last,” the teacher growled, unclenching his fists and instead placing the palms of his hands flat against Matthew’s head. “I won’t... what are you...  _oh_.”  
  
Matthew’s hands had fallen to rest on Dominic’s hips, but he move them to give his teacher’s pert arse a firm squeeze before pulling his hips forward, encouraging him to fuck his mouth with a final bat of his eyelashes and the quirk of one eyebrow.  
  
Dominic hardly needed encouragement. He tried to keep a slow, deep rhythm; biting his lip as he listened to the sounds Matthew made, lacing his thick hair in between his fingers and tugging every now and then. He felt the head of his cock brush the roof of Matthew’s mouth and he shuddered. “I’m going to come,” he rushed to say, pressing his shoulders back into the wall as hips continued snapping of their own accord. His shirt was drenched with sweat and the point of his tie kept sticking to Matthew’s forehead, but neither cared enough to move it. Matthew looked up at Dominic and that was all the permission he needed.  
  
“Oh... sweet  _fuck_!” Dominic shouted as he thrust hard into Matthew’s mouth, knees threatening to give out as the most powerful orgasm of his life shuddered through his body. Trying to keep himself upright, his left hand shot out to claw at the wall beside him, and only managing to tear one of the lab coats clean off its peg; the sound of ripping fabric was almost as electric in the near-silent air. Dominic panted heavily as he leant back against the wall, his twitching fingers releasing the shredded cotton.  
  
Matthew stroked Dominic’s thighs once, before holding his cock steady as he withdrew it from his mouth. It caught his bottom lip, smearing a string of come down over his chin. His tongue swiped at it quickly, as his other hand massaged his jaw line for a couple of seconds. He looked up at his teacher and grinned, the pearl of come in the divot of his chin forgotten.  
  
“I told you I’d make you feel good,” he said, evidently pleased with himself. He used the point of his index finger to finally locate the bit on his chin, and made a show of licking it up. Dominic’s eyes fluttered shut; Matthew could see that his knees were still shaking. “ _That_ good, hmm?” he mused quietly to himself, grabbing the destroyed lab coat to wipe his hands upon. The silence stretched around them. “And you’re teaching kids to do all that with a condom on. That’s just a shame,” Matthew continued, shaking his head. The smirk was still on his face, though, and Dominic finally cracked one eye open to look down at his student, sat on his haunches.  
  
“Stop talking,” Dominic said. His voice was thick, and Matthew bit his lip at the sound of it.  
  
“Maybe I should do this to you before classes, sir,” Matthew said. “You sound so dirty when you’ve just had sex,” he continued, his right hand lazily pressing against his crotch. Dominic could clearly see he was hard. The words sank in.  
  
“But... but I haven’t...” His voice sounded sinful, but his words were cautious. Curious.  
  
“Not technically, no, sir,” Matthew said, rosy lips curling into a smile. “I could change that, if you wanted,” he drawled, pressing his hand down into his crotch and letting out a quiet hiss at the sweet pressure.  
  
“Matthew...” Dominic began.  
  
Matthew threw his head back as he undid the button of his jeans. “Oh God, sir, in that tone of voice I don’t think I’ll be responsible for my actions,” he said so fast that Dominic struggled to keep up. “Talk to me sir,  _please_.”  
  
“You’re so insolent,” Dominic said, his gravelly tone matching the smile that was twitching at the corners of his lips. His hair was sweaty, curling at his ears and his eyes were dark. He looked nothing like the virgin teacher Matthew had always dreamed of corrupting. “You deserve to be punished.”  
  
“Mmmm,” Matthew hummed, tilting his head back and exposing the pale column of his neck to Dominic’s hungry eyes. “This feels more like a reward at the moment,” he smiled as his hand dipped inside his jeans.  
  
“I’ll bend you over my desk and fuck you until you’re raw.”  
  
Matthew’s eyes snapped open. The blue irises were almost consumed by his pupils. “Is that a threat or a promise?”  
  
Dominic had no idea where the words were coming from, but they were spilling from his lips anyway. “A promise if you stop touching yourself and be a good boy, and a threat if you keep misbehaving,” he said, finally having the strength to bend down and pull up his boxers and trousers. A frown fell across Matthew’s face as he withdrew his hand from his jeans and fastened himself up.  
  
“Good boy,” Dominic said, stepping forward from the wall. “Get up.”  
  
Matthew blinked but did as he was told, the change in his teacher sudden but certainly not unwelcome. As soon as he was on two feet again, he was pulled into a rough kiss, Dominic’s barely-there stubble scraping his chin.  
  
“Can you taste yourself, sir?” Matthew whispered into Dominic’s ear as he broke away, lapping at the skin just below the corner of his jaw. He wanted Mister Howard to think that he still held all the cards, even though, in truth, he loved to be dominated. “The taste of your flesh on my tongue?”  
  
Dominic stepped back. “That’s it. You’ll never learn, will you?” he said with a stern, cold mask on his face. Matthew froze, worried for a brief moment that he’d gone too far. The blood resumed pumping around his body, and surging towards his groin, as his teacher smirked, licking his lips.  
  
“I think I need to see you in my office.”


	3. Chapter 3

_"I think I need to see you in my office."_

Matthew ran his hands through his hair as Mister Howard beckoned him out of the store room, having checked that the coast was clear. Matthew rolled his eyes at the teacher motioned at him to hurry up, back to his old self as he panicked and stressed about being caught. He strolled across the room to where he’d left his bag, scooping it up on his way to the door in no particular rush. Mister Howard was already standing there, impatient.

“Chill, sir. Final bell rang ages ago. No one will be around.”

They stepped out into the corridor, Matthew biting back a laugh as Mister Howard crept down it, like he was something from a spy film. He smirked at the teacher, raising his eyebrows when the other man made a gesture for him to hurry.

“You know, if you act like that, it’s just going to draw attention to us.”

Mister Howard looked at him with an unreadable expression as Matthew casually walked past him, beginning to whistle. He heard footsteps behind him as he walked down the main corridor with a bit of a spring in his step. A teacher stepped out of one of the offices along the right hand side, pulling his door shut behind him and rattling a big bunch of keys as he locked up. Matthew took notice of the hitch in Mister Howard’s breath; it sounded exactly like when he’d--

“Bellamy!” the teacher exclaimed, Matthew’s tune dying in his mouth. “What are you doing here after school?”

Thinking fast, Matthew jerked a thumb over his shoulder to gesture at Mister Howard. “Fuckin’ bitch Marie caught me smoking and prattled to Howard,” he said, stopping as they neared the older, grey-haired teacher and giving Mister Howard a knowing look. “So now I’ve got an hour’s detention because apparently I’ve been naughty.”

His tone was deliberately sarcastic, but as he smirked at the end of his sentence, he could see Mister Howard shifting under his gaze. His eyes darkened in a second. “That’s _Mister_ Howard to you,” he reminded him sternly, and Matthew felt his smirk fall as his lips parted, breath coming just a little harder.

“Smoking is bad for your health,” the older teacher nodded, seemingly unaware of the sexual tension between teacher and student. “And so is swearing. A dirty mouth like that won’t get you a job.”

Matthew bit back a remark about jobs involving mouths being dirtied, and he saw Mister Howard shift on his feet. His hair was still ever so slightly sweaty, and Matthew found himself licking his lips in anticipation as the other two teachers talked.

“Are you even listening, Bellamy?” Mister Howard asked, and Matthew blinked. “He’s so insolent,” he said to the other teacher, giving Matthew a slight push on the shoulder as to start him walking again. “I’ll make sure he’s thoroughly punished.”

Matthew was glad the older teacher left them, then, as his erection was slowly becoming visible in his jeans. “Punish me how, sir?” Matthew asked sweetly, remembering the threatening promise earlier of being bent over his teacher’s desk and fucked raw. He swallowed a moan.

“I didn’t know you smoked,” Mister Howard said, changing the topic of conversation as he walked alongside Matthew. A beat of sweat sat on his brow as they paced their way down the corridor, neither wanting to have to stumble their way through another distracting conversation. They had punishments to administer, detentions to enjoy.

“Yeah. From time to time,” Matthew said, as if he wanted to change the topic back to his punishment, until he laughed to himself. “Seems I’m pretty used to having fags in my mouth.”

They rounded a corner, finally just outside Mister Howard’s office.  The teacher threw a quick glance over his shoulder, before shoving Matthew up against the wall.

“What the fu--”

“Use that word again and you _will_ be punished. That is a threat _and_ a promise,” Mister Howard growled, his face dangerously close to Matthew’s. He straightened as Matthew exhaled, turning to unlock the door of his office.

“You’re really hot when you’re angry,” Matthew said, somewhat breathlessly. Mister Howard grabbed him and pushed him into his office before his voice carried down the corridor, slamming the door and locking it behind him.

Mister Howard’s office was lightly furnished. The desk took up most of the room, with a leather chair behind it and two chairs in front of it. The windows looked out onto a small courtyard, one of many in the school; an empty computer room and the high windows of a block of toilets overlooked it. The teacher drew the blinds, though, just to be safe.

“Nice place,” Matthew said, smirking as he ran his fingers across some of the spines of Mister Howard’s books, neatly ordered by height. “So many French books,” Matthew remarked.

“Seeing as I’m a French teacher,” Mister Howard said, tone sounding irritated. Matthew turned to him, watching him turn on the desk lamp in the now dark room. “It makes a little bit of sense.”

Matthew scoffed, turning back to the books. “No need to be sarcastic, sir.”

“No need to be such a little tease,” Mister Howard whispered in Matthew’s ear. He jumped as he felt his teacher grip his hips from behind, pressing his erection into the curve of his arse. “Your behaviour towards Mister Brink was downright rude. I should punish you.”

One of Mister Howard’s hands drifted down towards Matthew’s crotch, before pulling back again. He whined with anticipation. “Mister Brink? Fuck, that should be _your_ name. Keeping me wound up like this, on the edge,” Matthew said, tilting his head back as Mister Howard began to place kisses down the side of it. “No... no, you’re not a Howard. Maybe Coward as you don’t have the courage to--”

Matthew’s sentence ended in a long, drawn out moan as Mister Howard gripped him through his jeans, placing a sucking kiss on his neck that was sure to bruise. “Fuck,” he breathed, feeling his cock pulse in his teacher’s grip, the promise of what was yet to come pressing into his backside. “This is hardly punishment,” he gasped out, before he was released completely. “What?! No!”

Mister Howard backed away from Matthew, walking over to his desk and perching against it, spreading his legs. Matthew licked his lips at the visible bulge in his suit trousers. His hands, strong and sure, reached up to unknot his tie, leaving it hanging loosely around his neck. “Come here, _Bellamy_.”

Unable to deny the shiver that ran through his body, Matthew obeyed, stepping between Mister Howard’s legs as if he belonged there. Mister Howard took the tie from around his neck and looped it around Matthew’s, pulling him closer until their bodies were flush. Matthew’s hands gravitated to the buttons on his teacher’s shirt, as Mister Howard pulled down on the tie, pulling his student into a kiss.

Matthew’s hands fisted in Mister Howard’s shirt as he moaned, eyes fluttering shut as their tongues met almost immediately. He stepped forward, insistently pressing his cock against Mister Howard’s and feeling light-headed, overwhelmed. One of his hands slid around Mister Howard’s body to tangle in his hair, pulling on the strands and bringing a low groan from the man before him. He grinned as their kiss broke, Mister Howard trying to look stern but simply looking hot and bothered.

“Turn around,” he rasped, and Matthew did just that, the silk tie sliding across his Adam’s apple as Mister Howard released one end and pulled it back to him. “Hands behind your back. You’re being punished, remember?”

Matthew’s hands appeared behind his back, long and pale fingers wriggling. They groped blindly, obviously searching for Mister Howard’s crotch. He allowed himself to smile, unseen, before he quickly wrapped the tie around Matthew’s wrists. Those lovely long fingers curled, leaving two middle fingers exposed. Mister Howard laughed a throaty, raspy laugh.

“You didn’t really think this through,” Matthew said, looking over his shoulder with amusement lighting up his face. “I can’t take my top off now.”

He turned around, watching Mister Howard’s face flicker before the teacher smirked. “I wasn’t planning on undressing you, anyway,” he said, saving himself. He stood up; looking down on Matthew through his eyelashes as he slowly undid the buttons of his own shirt, sucking his bottom lip between his teeth.

“Fuck!” Matthew said, stepping back and stamping one foot in frustration. As he turned slightly, Mister Howard could see his fingers flexing in their binds. “I want to touch you so badly. Please, sir, touch me. I need this, please,” he said, bending his knees slightly and begging as much as he could without his hands. Mister Howard’s hands stilled on a button half way down his shirt. “This is punishment enough, sir, just not being able to touch you. Strip for me some other time. Just...” he paused for breath, looking down at his dick, thick and hard and obvious in his jeans. “Please, sir, just bend me over the desk and fuck me. You can dance for me and spread me out pretty on a bed some other time.”

Mister Howard’s eyebrow quirked. “Who said there would be another time?” he asked, voice deep and thick. It was Matthew’s turn to conceal his emotions as sadness flashed across his eyes for a second. “I think you’re being too cocky,” Mister Howard said, dragging his fingers from the tip of Matthew’s erection down to the base, working on his button and fly with a choked moan ringing in his ears. He tugged Matthew’s jeans down with one sharp motion, allowing his cock to tent his black Calvin Kleins. He bit his lip. “You know,” he said, cocking his head slightly. “I’m almost tempted to ask you to fuck _me_ , instead.”

Matthew whined, stepping forward out of his pooled jeans before Mister Howard’s arms caught him. “I said almost,” he said, before moving aside. With a certain kind of grace, he guided Matthew forward, all long, thin legs ending in laced Converse, and bent him over the desk. He pressed his dick into the curve of Matthew’s boxer-clad arse again, and the boy moaned loudly.

“Please, sir,” he said, fingers wriggling in thin air. He made a small noise of recognition as he heard a zipper being pulled down. The next time Mister Howard pressed his erection against him, it was much warmer, with only their boxers separating them. “So thick, sir, please. God, as if I’m begging. I never beg, sir, not for anyone.” He paused for a few moments as his t-shirt was pushed up his torso slightly, exposing his back. His arms hurt a little, but the tie gave him enough manoeuvrability to twist his wrists, bringing his arms up into a slightly more comfortable position. He could easily have broken out of it, if he’d wanted to. “Is there a safe word, sir?” he asked as he raised his hips from the desk, allowing his boxers to be drawn over his leaking cock and down his legs, the exposed skin rising with goose bumps.

“Safe word?” Mister Howard repeated, unsure. It was the first time since they’d entered the office that he’d seemed out of his depth. With his face pressed against the top of his teacher’s desk, Matthew found it hard to remember that his teacher was still a virgin.

“Well,” Matthew drawled, rearranging his body slightly so he could look over his shoulder at his teacher. “Seeing as you decided to tie me up and everything. It would only be courtesy, after all. I don’t think I’ll actually be using it, anyway,” he said with a grin.

“It’s ‘text book’, then,” Mister Howard said, running his hands across his student’s bare skin. “Seeing as you never used to fucking use _them_ at GCSE.” Matthew put his head back down on the desk, smirking at the teacher’s use of profanity.

“Oh yeah, French. I’ve forgotten all my words now, I think. Maybe you could teach me some, sir? Seeing as it’s such a _passionate_ language,” Matthew said, voice increasing in pitch as one of Mister Howard’s fingers brushed the sensitive spot just behind his balls. “And my language will become _very_ passionate if you stick that in there without any lube.”

Mister Howard found himself laughing, despite his nerves. He wanted to try something he’d never done before, and with such a willing subject, he had nothing to lose. If he didn’t do it now, he would only look foolish in the future, further down the line. The thought of more encounters with this particular student drove him to stroke himself once through his boxers, falling to his knees with a quiet moan. He placed his hands on Matthew’s pale arse cheeks, spreading them just so.

“What the fuck do you-- _oh_ ,” Matthew moaned loudly, bucking against the desk as Mister Howard tentatively licked his entrance. The smell and taste of the boy was more erotic than Mister Howard would’ve dared to dream, and his fingers sunk into Matthew’s flesh as he flattened his tongue, surely and firmly in a second lick. Matthew mewled above him, hands clenched into tight fists behind his back as Mister Howard pulled him apart, physically and emotionally. “Jesus fucking Christ,” he near-shouted, voice raspy. “I’m really, _really_ not going to last long if you keep doing that. I think you just discovered a kink I never knew I had.”

Matthew heard a laugh from somewhere behind him, feeling the sweat run down his forehead as he ached to touch himself. He thought about breaking out of his bonds, but then he remembered that he’d seen his teacher truly angry for only a few moments earlier that afternoon, and he wasn’t sure if he wanted to face that again.

Even if it did turn him on beyond belief.

“Oh, _sir!_ ” Matthew cried out, trying to grind his hips into the desk as the very tip of his teacher’s tongue entered him. The warm, wet intrusion made his head spin. “Sir, please, sir, I won’t last long, please sir, I need more,” he whined, as Mister Howard tried to go deeper, hands moving to hold Matthew’s hips and pull him away from the desk a little. He hummed as he worked, seemingly content. Matthew was panting, clawing at thin air. His knees wobbled, once, and Mister Howard took it as a sign to stop.

“Is that enough lubrication for you?” Mister Howard said, and Matthew could hear the smirk in his voice. Matthew twitched on the desk, and Mister Howard laughed as he ran his hands over Matthew’s exposed back, an electric current coursing through them both. Matthew whined in response as Mister Howard placed a kiss to the base of his spine, before Matthew heard the recognisable snap of elastic waistband. He looked over his shoulder.

“You’re going to put a condom on, right?” he asked. Mister Howard cocked his head. “I mean, I know I was going on about them dulling the sensation earlier, but I...” he shook his head to himself, laughing. “In my wallet, in the back of my jeans.”

Mister Howard followed the directions, pulling a slim leather wallet out and shuffling around into Matthew’s eye line, trousers still looped around his ankles. He flicked through the wallet, ignoring Matthew’s protests as he looked at some of the cards.

“Aw, still a provisional?” Mister Howard said, spying the green card. He laughed. “Wow, nice hair.”

“Fuck off,” Matthew spat, pupils wide in his eyes and his cock still hanging heavy between his legs. He remained bent over the desk, even though Mister Howard wasn’t there to hold him down. It was very clear he didn’t want Mister Howard to fuck off, not in the slightest. The teacher grinned at the sight as he pulled the condom out of the wallet, chucking the latter to the floor as he held the little foil packet in his hand. “You remember your own lesson then, Mister Howard?” he asked, menace laced in his voice and his eyes roving over his teacher’s body. His shirt was unbuttoned to his belly button, his cock was standing proud and his legs were long and slim. Matthew licked his lips.

“I might be a virgin,” Mister Howard began, stroking himself twice. Matthew noted that he was left-handed. “But I’ve put a condom on before,” he said, proving his point as he quickly tore open the packet, discarding the foil and rolling the condom easily over his cock, flushed and rock hard.

“Bullshit,” Matthew said, cheek pressed against the desk. “The way you were handling those models earlier made me think you’ve never even touched your own dick before, let alone put a condom on it,” he said, raising his eyebrows in challenge.

Mister Howard rolled his eyes. “Just stop talking,” he said as he walked back to his position behind Matthew, running his hands over the skin he couldn’t get enough of.

Matthew did the same thing any teenager would do when told to shut up. “Make me,” he said in a knee-jerk reaction, and Mister Howard lined up his cock and slowly pressed it into Matthew.

“Holy _fucking_ shit!” Matthew said, wrists pulling the tie taut as he thrashed. “Sweet fucking _fuck_ that feels a lot fucking bigger than I expected it to! Jesus _fuck_ ,” he screeched, banging his head against the table. Mister Howard paused with the tip of his cock in Matthew’s body, making sure the student hadn’t knocked himself out on his desk. Now _that_ would be difficult to explain. “Why did you stop moving?!” Matthew whined, venom in his words as he looked over his shoulder. “Keep going!”

Mister Howard smiled. “Keep it down a little,” he said, voice smooth as velvet. “And have you never used toys? You’re the one acting like a virgin.”

“Excuse me?!” Matthew spluttered. “ _You’re_ the one acting like a virgin, you’re not supposed to stop moving _oh fuck_.”

Mister Howard continued sinking forward, pushing into Matthew’s body until he was as deep as he could go. He paused for a moment, fingers tracing patterns in the sweat at the base of Matthew’s spine. “Good?” he asked, biting his lip as Matthew’s body moved around him. The boy was so tight that it made Mister Howard’s head spin. He gripped his hips and slid out slightly, before experimentally thrusting his hips forward again.

The moan Matthew let out was positively sinful.

“Don’t move,” Mister Howard said, before untying Matthew’s hands and throwing his tie to the floor. Matthew’s arms fell limply to his sides, before he shook the ache from them. He gripped the sides of the desk, now able to grind back onto Mister Howard more easily. A cry was ripped from his throat as Matthew began to move of his own accord.

“Sir,” Matthew said as Mister Howard’s strong hands pressed down against the top of his covered back, trying to keep him in place. The muscles in his arms bulged as he moved, and Mister Howard watched with a sense of reverent fascination. With one hand on Matthew’s hip, the other slid up his spine to Matthew’s hair, tugging and twisting at the strands until Matthew cried out, as his hips began to pick up the pace. Soon, the room was filled with the sounds of their skin slapping together, and of Matthew mewling on the desk. He rested his torso against it, freeing his right hand to slip under his lower body.

Mister Howard smacked his left arse cheek. Hard.

Matthew made a noise that was a mixture of a howl and a moan, lurching forward on the desk. His hands gripped the edges again, having learnt his lesson. Mister Howard gripped his hips tight and pushed into him on a particularly deep thrust, eliciting the most heavenly of moans from Matthew. “Do that again, sir, oh fuck do that _yes_ ,” he drawled as Mister Howard thrust in deeply again. “Talk dirty to me sir, please, I--”

Mister Howard delivered another stinging blow to Matthew’s arse, and he cried out. “This is a _punishment_ ,” he said on a particularly deep thrust. He stayed as deep as he could for a second or two, before retreating. Matthew’s knees were shaking.

“I’m gonna come, sir,” Matthew said, fingers slipping on the smooth surface as he sought purchase. “All over your desk.”

Mister Howard draped himself down over Matthew, nudging his feet further apart as more of their skin met. “And I’m going to lick it off.”

“Fuck.”

Matthew came with a shudder and a shout, spilling across the surface of the desk but also dripping over the side of it as well. His body spasmed just so that he brought Mister Howard tumbling into his orgasm as well, covering Matthew’s body with his own, knees shaking. He stayed there for a few moments afterwards, as they panted in silence. Eventually, Matthew nudged his teacher with a bony elbow, and he found his feet again, standing up and pulling out of his student. With a quiet snort, he disposed of the condom in his waste paper basket, before pulling his boxers back up and tucking himself back in. Boneless, he collapsed into his desk chair, legs spread, groaning.

“Fuck,” Matthew said hoarsely, pushing himself up from the desk and standing up. “Jesus,” he said, looking down at the mess he made of the desktop. “Can you pass-- cheers,” he said, as Mister Howard was already offering him tissues. He wiped down his stomach, before he stopped suddenly and looked at his teacher.

The hair was curling behind his ears again, the strands still sweaty, and the blond laughed. “I have no idea how clean that desk is. I’d happily lick it off your body, but I’ve already come twice today and even the thought of getting hard again hurts.”

“Old man,” Matthew laughed, continuing to wipe himself down. He left the tissues discarded in the come on the desk, allowing Mister Howard to finish that off as he tucked himself back into his boxers and walking over to his bag.

Mister Howard watched him with his head cocked to the side. “What, exactly, are you doing?”

Matthew stood upright again, waving a packet of cigarettes and a lighter at his teacher. “You don’t mind, do you?” he asked, looking slightly shocked. “It’s been a bit of a stressful afternoon.

Mister Howard’s face darkened. “Of course I _bloody_ mind! It’s my office!”

Matthew grinned mischievously. “Great, thanks!” he said, walking over to the window as he tugged his top back down from around his armpits. The sleeves were still rolled up to his elbows, and Dominic could clearly see the tattoo now, a small Chinese dragon in deep black ink.

“I like your tattoo,” Mister Howard blurted out. Matthew looked surprised, before he looked down at it and grinned with pride, twisting his arm.

“Cheers,” he said, blushing ever so slightly. Although that might’ve been a figment of his imagination. Matthew peeked through the blinds, confirming that no one would see him as he drew them back a little, cracking open a window. He could hear his teacher sigh as he sparked his lighter and lit his cigarette.

“I don’t know why I didn’t see it before,” Mister Howard said, almost to himself. “Maybe I was distracted.”

He heard Matthew snort. The boy poked his head back into the room. “You want one?” he asked with an innocent air.

“I don’t smoke,” Mister Howard said as his student took a drag on his cigarette, blowing the smoke out of the window. “You’re too young for it.”

“I’m eighteen in June,” he scoffed.

“So that makes you seventeen.”

Matthew stuck his head back in through the window when he recognised the smirk on his voice. “Well done, sir,” he said mockingly. He paused as he tapped the ash out into the courtyard. “How old are you?”

Mister Howard knew he should’ve been affronted by the question, but as he sat in his boxers and shirt in a post-orgasm haze, he felt that maybe he didn’t have that right anymore. “Twenty three,” he said, buttoning up his shirt. He watched Matthew’s lips twitch into a smirk. “Twenty four in December.”

“Wow,” Matthew said, taking a deep drag and exhaling sharply. “I would’ve said you were older.”

“Should I be offended?”

“Depends if you’re going to punish me for it,” Matthew said, sticking his arse out further as he took the final couple of drags of his cigarette. Content, he dropped the butt out of the window, shutting it and pulling the blinds across once again. He put his cigarettes and lighter back in his bag, before sitting in the chair on the opposite side of his teacher’s desk. “You looked like you were going to rip my head off earlier when I made the fag comment.”

Mister Howard’s head whipped up. “I hate that word,” he said quickly, before looking aside. The bravado was gone, Matthew realised quite belatedly. Here he was, sat with the man whose virginity he’d just taken, and he didn’t even know his first name, let alone his history.

“I won’t ask again,” Matthew said, fingers tracing patterns in the clean parts of the desk. “I reckon we’re not that different, really, sir,” he said suddenly, looking up at his teacher. Wide grey eyes greeted him.

Mister Howard smiled. “You’re only saying that because you want to get in my pants again,” he laughed, Matthew giggling for a few short seconds as well. The sound made Mister Howard grin. “You know, Matthew, you’re not so bad.”

“You’d be better if you called me Matt, sir.”

“And, in these kind of situations, you’d be better off calling me Dom, _Matt_ ,” he drawled, rolling his eyes as Matthew began giggling.

“Dom,” he repeated, before cracking into laughter. “I’m sorry, that’s too funny,” he said, leaning forward to rest his head on his arms as he calmed down once more.

“You won’t be saying that when I take you home and... what was it you said? You wanted me to lay you out _pretty_?” Mister Howard said, smirking.

Matthew’s eyes lit up. “Is that a promise?”

“Depends if you need punishing again.”

Matthew grinned, licking his lips. “I’ll be on my very _worst_ behaviour then...” he said, pausing for a moment.

“ _Sir.”_


	4. Chapter 4

Matthew woke up the next morning with something akin to a hangover, but not quite. He barely remembered how he’d gotten home from school the night before, unused to staying there so late. He’d practically inhaled his dinner when he finally got home, then went straight upstairs to his room, fucking around on Facebook and catching up on Game of Thrones before he was too exhausted to stay up.

He stumbled into the bathroom and rubbed the sleep from his eyes, running his hands through his bed hair absentmindedly. He got straight into the shower, taking particular care to scrub away the dried come between his legs and whimpering a little when he realised he was sore in more than one place; his arse cheeks were sensitive from where they’d been slapped. His whine was soon followed by a smirk, though, and the pleasant tingle in his belly of all the things to come.

He knew he’d be in deep, _deep_ trouble if he got caught. But that added all the more fun to the fact, he decided as he rubbed soap suds all over his hairless chest. His hands ghosted up to the bruise at the bottom of his neck, left there by Mister Howard the night before. He smirked again, dunking his head under the water one final time before switching the shower off, drying off quickly and getting dressed in a tight red t-shirt and his trademark black skinnies.

“Did you actually get _anything_ done last night?” his mother asked over breakfast, just as he’d taken a big spoonful of Cheerios. He coughed, splattering milk back into his bowl as he swallowed.

“I did a few things,” he said, trying his hardest to conceal the tone in his voice. His mother knew him better than he knew himself, as she turned around from the television with her arms folded across her chest.

“Matthew James, if you’re fooling around with that poor Kelly girl again--”

Matthew laughed loudly, sitting back in his chair. “Mum, Jesus, no! She has a boyfriend now, Christ,” he muttered as he continued eating. “No, I went to... um, French club.”

“French club?” her mother asked, amused. “I thought you hated it at GCSE?”

“I changed my mind,” he said as he continued eating, chewing slowly as he thought. “Apparently I’m quite good at it, or so my teacher says. I might go to it again tonight, then I might stay at Tom’s.”

“It’s a school night, Matt,” his mother said in that warning tone of hers.

“And I have a free after lunch, and I’m not in until break tomorrow. I’ll stop back here while you’re at work if I need anything,” Matthew said, already having back up plans for back up plans. It’d kept him up half the night in anticipation. His teenage mind had decided that if he’d been a girl he would’ve been positively dripping.

But instead, he was a guy and he’d had to desperately crack out a quiet wank at 3am because his dick was so hard.

“Alright,” his mother conceded as Matthew grabbed his bag and made his way to the door. “Just text me or something.”

“Love you,” he said as he left the house, knowing that if everything went to plan, he wouldn’t be returning there that night.

~

“He definitely seems more confident,” the blonde girl said, chewing her gum and flicking her hair over her shoulder. Her friend, school uniform covered with badges and ginger hair in a plait over her shoulder, nodded eagerly.

“He probably got some last night,” she said, batting her eyelashes towards their GCSE French teacher as he passed their table.

“Fuck, look at that arse--”

“Chloe, Stephanie, stop talking,” Mister Howard said, throwing them both a stern look.

“Firm,” Steph muttered. “Just how I like it.”

“Girls!” Mister Howard said with a dark note in his voice. They both stopped talking instantly and began working.

It seemed as if their teacher had finally developed balls overnight. None of Mister Howard’s first period class, though, were any the wiser about the fact that it was one of their fellow students that brought around the change in him. It was obvious that something had happened though. He was gripping his rowdy class much more quickly, he’d foregone a tie and instead had opted for a suit jacket, and he was striding down the school corridors between classes as if he’d owned the place.

Dominic’s evening had been relatively uneventful, after he’d scrubbed his desk clean of come and seen Matthew safely out of the school gates, no questions asked. He’d picked up Chinese on the way home, treating himself after a long day of new experiences. If he was being honest, he was pretty fucking pleased with what had happened. Sure, he could be fired or sent to prison (hopefully not either, but the former was better than the latter at least), but he finally felt like he’d caught up and joined the rest of his generation. All thanks to someone six years younger than him.

After polishing off his Chinese and casually looking up teaching posts in France (he’d never been particularly attached to this town), Dominic made his way into his bedroom, chose his very favourite dildo and fucked himself to exhaustion.

So he’d woken up in an extremely good mood the next day.

Matthew had brushed past Mister Howard in the corridor, at one of the busy crossroads that always get packed full of students. The sixth former had pressed his whole body against the teacher’s for just one fleeting second, before he disappeared into the crowd once more. He almost wanted to shout after the brunet, until a torrent of arguments skidded into his head and he decided against it.

It wasn’t until he sat down for his second period class that he realised a piece of paper had been tucked into the pocket of his suit jacket. With a quick glance towards the door which his young Year Seven class would line up outside, he unfolded it and read quickly.

> _Meet me outside your office at the start of lunch, with your address written down on a piece of paper. Or a condom packet, I’m not fussed._

Dominic fought the blush that was rushing towards his cheeks, loudly clearing his throat before standing up sharply. He’d recognise that terrible scrawl anywhere, and that crudeness could only belong to one certain student.

At the first possible opportunity during the lesson, Mister Howard wrote his address on a clean sheet of paper as neatly as possible. And then, he waited.

~

Matthew tuned his guitar by ear as he listened to Tom prattling on, before he sighed loudly.

“Tom you cunt, shut up for two fucking minutes while I do this,” he snapped, basking in the silence as he twanged the G string once more. He turned on his little tuner just to check, but he knew that he’d been right. Tom managed to stay silent as he strummed all the strings and began playing around with a riff, until he started speaking again.

“So did you do anything with Mister H?” Tom asked eagerly, flicking buttons and switches on the huge sound desk before him. Matthew stared at it in a mixture of mild contempt but also amusement. He then realised what had been said. His head snapped around to see the door of the soundproofed practice room shut, with its only two occupants entirely isolated from the rest of the school.

“I...”

For the first time in a long time, Matthew Bellamy blushed in front of his best friend. Tom’s jaw dropped.

“Fucking hell, if you’re blushing it must’ve been bad,” Tom said, sitting forward eagerly. “Come on Matt, spill!”

“You sound like one of the fucking Barbie girls in Year 12,” Matthew said, turning his nose up as Tom laughed. He tried desperately to regain his composure. “I might’ve, you know, taken his virginity.”

Matthew decided to omit that, actually and technically, Mister Howard had taken his, too.

Tom seemed ecstatic nonetheless, and clapped Matthew loudly on the back. “Mate, well done!” he said loudly, and Matthew shushed him a little, guitar still balanced in his lap. “Did you ruin him?”

“Tom,” Matthew cautioned in a tone that wasn’t far off a sigh. “Leave him be, yeah? He’s actually a nice bloke. Great dick.”

Tom grunted, made a retching noise and then turned around to the recording machine, quickly ending the conversation by playing back their recording from their session a few days ago. Matthew fiddled around with a riff, trying to match it to the beat but glancing at the clock every few seconds. He couldn’t wait until lunch time.

The bell rang and his guitar was straight back in its case and in the cupboard before Tom had even stood up. His best friend said something or the other as he left the room, nearly running from the music department towards the languages department. He realised he looked far too eager for the Matt Bellamy the rest of the school knew, so he slowed down a bit and tried to look cool. It came effortlessly (of course), but he still found himself worrying that the teacher wouldn’t have read the note, or wouldn’t bother to meet him, or...

Matthew realised that he was actually concerned about his teacher. That it was more than just a no strings attached--

“Fuck,” Matthew muttered to himself as he turned the corner, finding the hallway outside Mister Howard’s office empty. “He left. Bastard.”

“That’s not a very nice thing to say about your teacher.”

~

Matthew jumped and turned around, and Dominic swallowed whatever other words he was about to say when he saw him. He was wearing a tight red t-shirt that clung to his small frame, hugging his biceps just so and contrasting against his pale skin.

“Sir,” Matthew said breathlessly, smirking when he realised that Dominic quite enjoyed hearing that word. “It’s not very nice to be late either,” he retorted.

“Yes, well,” Dominic began, shifting around the books in his arms as he tried to fit his key into the lock. Matthew plucked it from his fingers and did it for him; a kindness he didn’t expect from the typically rebellious student. “Um, thanks,” he said, as he quickly went into his office and dumped all of the books on his now clean desk. Matthew obediently waited at the door. “You’re not the only student in this school, you know,” Dominic said as he left his office again, locking it behind him. “I had Year Sevens to deal with.”

Matthew turned up his nose in the universal disgust held towards the lower years by the older students. Dominic laughed. “Here’s that piece of paper you wanted,” he said in a slightly lower tone but still trying to remain vague as he handed over the crisp sheet of A5. “I’ll only be there at about five-ish.”

Matthew scanned the address quickly as Dominic tried to read his expression, feeling anxious for some unknown reason. Matthew met his eyes and Dominic struggled to hold them, his nervousness from what felt like ages past suddenly surging up to take him captive again. “There’s a park near there, isn’t there. The Gardens?”

“That’s the one,” Dominic said, trying to keep up with Matthew’s racing thoughts.

“I’ve got a free, I might walk over that way. I need to go into town anyway, for the usual. You know. Condoms, lube...” he paused, offering a shrug and an uncharacteristically timid smile. “Maybe meet me, in the centre bit by the flowers and all that? We can, you know, talk. Clothed. If you’d like.”

Dominic looked over his shoulder, down the hallway. It was empty, but he couldn’t risk staying any longer and asking if it was some kind of twisted attempt at a date. He found himself not wanting to refuse, either. He opened his mouth but Matthew began talking again.

“It’s out of the way, on the other side of town. None of these students should be there. I’ll behave myself, I promise. I know how much you want to punish me,” he said, his voice dropping in pitch and Dominic trying not to whine.

“Fine. Okay. I’ll meet you there,” Dominic said in a tight voice, beginning to walk down the hallway towards the staff room. Until, that is, fingers clamped down around his wrist.

“One more thing, that you might like to know,” Matthew said, and Dominic only just recognise the glint in his eyes before he continued. “I couldn’t get to sleep last night without thinking of you spanking me.”

And like that, Matthew turned around and walked away. Dominic grunted, letting his forehead fall against the wall and willing himself to calm down.

It was going to be a long afternoon.

~

A few hours later, Matthew sat on a park bench on the outskirts of town, with a belly full of bacon sandwich and a Boots carrier bag by his side. He laughed in the quiet park as he remembered the face of the young female cashier as he went through the checkout with a jumbo box of condoms (the kind specialised for anal sex, of course), with an equally as large bottle of lube and a specialised bottle of massage oil.  
  
There were a few elderly couples around the park, dotted about on the other benches. Matthew looked at them with a sense of longing that was new and foreign. He wished he would still be happily in love when he reached that age. He shook the thought out of his head quickly as he saw a figure approaching from the distance.

“You’re early,” he said as a way of greeting. Dominic smiled sheepishly before gesturing to the bag.

“Gave my A-Level class a study period,” he said with a shrug, placing his briefcase down at the end of the bench. “What’s in there?” Dominic asked as he sat down next to Matthew at a comfortable distance, eyes scanning the park.

“An elephant and your sense of adventure,” Matthew deadpanned, before finally cracking a smile at Dominic’s confused face. “I fucking told you at school,” he said, before tucking the bag out of sight as Dominic tried to peek. “Lube and condoms. Extra large, may I add,” Matthew said as he dropped his voice a tone. Dominic felt a shiver run down his spine, before something pinged in his brain.

“Matthew... I don’t think I’m that big.”

“I never said they were for you.”

Dominic swallowed. “Oh.”

They sat in silence for a few moments, sexual tension bristling between them as the birds continued singing overhead and the general roar of the city droned on, outside of their isolated bubble. As Dominic searched desperately for something to say to Matthew, who was so coolly sat there, every single muscle in his body oozing a feeling of self-contentment, an opportunity presented itself.

An elegant black cat strode into sight, tail high and swaying, along the edge of one of the flowerbeds. Matthew called to her effortlessly, and her ears pricked up before she turned to face him. With a smile on his face unlike any that Dominic had ever seen, Matthew beckoned her with his hand. With wide eyes, she followed the motion, jumping up onto the space on the bench between them. Instantly, Matthew was stroking her back with delicate touches.

“You’re gorgeous,” he murmured lowly, and Dominic felt a strange sense of warmth spread through his chest. Perhaps pride, perhaps infatuation, possibly both. “Who’s a pretty girl?”

Tentatively, Dominic raised his hand and stroked the cat’s head, allowing his fingers to brush with Matthew’s for a moment. Dominic watched the boy smile, before he coyly looked up from his new friend to his teacher.

“I’ve always wanted a cat,” Matthew said lowly, as to not scare away the currently purring animal. “We had one when I was little but I never really remember having her. I was always good with pets,” he said, pressing his fingers just into a spot behind her ear. The purring got louder.

“I didn’t think you were capable of being this affectionate,” Dominic tried, smirking at Matthew. The boy laughed lowly.

“Oi, sir, don’t be mean now,” he said, purposefully ghosting his fingers across the back of Dominic’s hand. The sensitive skin there caused him to flinch, in turn causing the cat’s head to jolt up. She stood up, turned around prettily, and dropped off the edge of the bench, sauntering away once more.

“Sorry,” Dominic muttered. Just as he was going to draw his hand away entirely from the now empty space between them, Matthew grabbed it, squeezing it just once before letting it go, folding his own hands in his lap.

“I didn’t realise you were so sensitive.”

Dominic turned away from the flowers to look at Matthew once more, something he’d been wanting to do all day and now couldn’t quite get his fill of. There was a tone of challenge in his words, but as he stared out into the distance Dominic could see none of that on his face. His blue eyes flicked towards him once, before looking back out to the rest of the park. “It’s rude to stare,” he said, this time with the very ghost of a smile on his lips. He rummaged around in his bag beside him, pulling out his packet of cigarettes and his lighter. “Do you mind?” he asked, turning back towards Dominic.

“Only if you’re not sharing.”

Matthew’s brow furrowed. “I thought you didn’t smoke?” he asked, nevertheless opening the lid of the half-empty carton and offering it to Dominic. Dominic plucked one from the box.

“It’s been a long day,” he said, watching as Matthew lit his own cigarette and took a quick drag.

“Mm,” Matthew said, “can’t wait to get home.”

As Matthew said this, he reached towards Dominic’s cigarette with his lighter. He cupped the flame as he lit the cigarette, the very tips of his fingers brushing the stubble near the corner of Dominic’s mouth. Their eyes met, briefly, and the full impact of what Matthew said sunk into Dominic’s veins.

They sat back in their seats, and Dominic took a long drag, exhaling noisily. “Fuck,” he muttered. “I needed that.”

“It’s bad for your health. I wouldn’t recommend it,” Matthew said with a little laugh. He tapped the ash of his cigarette towards the ground.

“You’re bad for my health, but here I am.”

Matthew thought about that for a second, turning towards his teacher. He looked serene, staring out at the park with his head tipped back and eyes narrowed slightly, though not in malice. Perhaps in contentment. The smoke from his cigarette coiled upwards in a lazy spiral, and Matthew subtly licked his lips at the sight of his teacher in his suit jacket, reclining quite happily on the bench with a cigarette in his hand. He looked like some kind of model for a fancy magazine. It was like every one of his wet dreams combined.

“Touché,” he said simply, for fear of saying something ridiculous instead. For the first time, he was worried not that he would look uncool or he would become less popular for something he said. As he took a shaky drag on his cigarette, he realised that for the first time, he was genuinely concerned that he would offend Dominic somehow. And that was not something he wanted to do in the slightest.

“You know,” Dominic said quietly, as to break the silence. Matthew’s eyes traced his cigarette as it went to his full lips and back. Dominic exhaled a thin stream of smoke. “In those films, I never understood what the appeal was in a post-sex cigarette. Now, though,” he paused, evidently looking Matthew up and down, “I think I can see the attraction.”

Matthew smiled in return, just a little, until the full meaning of the words sunk in. He pictured them, sweaty and exhausted after a long, tantalising fuck, cigarettes in hand with the bedsheets dishevelled around their hips, as they stared at the ceiling with grins across their faces. Matthew pictured this, and he bit his lip, eyes fluttering shut for just a moment. He took a final drag of his cigarette before flicking the stub out along the path. He turned to Dominic.

“I think we need to leave,” Dominic said, stealing the words right from his mouth. He stood up, picked up his briefcase and began to talk in the opposite direction to which he had came. Matthew slung his bag over his shoulder, picking up the carrier bag as he stood up and jogged to catch up with Dominic.

“My house is just off this park,” Dominic said, and Matthew looked to see his Adam’s apple bobbing as he spoke. They turned a corner. “It’s on that street there, with all the terraced houses.”

“Cute,” Matthew said with a smirk.

“Anything but,” Dominic said, casting a casual glance over his shoulder. “There’s at least four bottles of unfinished Jack Daniels around the house. The cellar’s a home gym, I like to get nice and sweaty when I bench press. Oh, and there’s a well violated dildo in my bedside table.”

Matthew made the quietest whining sound. It was Dominic’s turn to smirk.

“Not quite so cute now, hmm?” Dominic said lowly, before picking up the pace ever so slightly.

He glanced occasionally at Matthew, watching the boy’s hands twitch as he bit his lip. They continued walking under a canopy of trees and eventually to the road, at which point Dominic pointed out that his house was the one with the red door.

“I can’t wait to be pressed up against it,” Matthew said lowly, as a mother pushing a pram passed them, “your lips on my neck.”

“I thought  _you_ were the one wanting to fuck me?” Dominic replied in a similar tone, as they both crossed the street and walked up to Dominic’s door. He pulled a bunch of keys from his pocket.

“I am  _this_  close to asking you to fuck me until I’m sore,” Matthew said, as Dominic pushed open the door and gestured for Matthew to walk into the hallway, plainly decorated and sparse of anything particularly resembling Dominic’s possessions. Dominic turned to shut the door behind them, and as he turned back Matthew was smirking at him.

“But not close enough,” he said, before he pressed Dominic up against the door and kissed him.

Dominic let out a surprised yelp that soon turned into a moan as Matthew pressed him harder against the door, running his fingers through his hair. He nipped his bottom lip playfully, before their mouths opened and their tongues met. Dominic’s hands roamed Matthew’s back, one sliding up beneath his t-shirt and eliciting a hiss from the student. Tipping his head back to thud against the wood of the door, Matthew began kissing down Dominic’s neck, sucking wetly for a brief moment on his Adam’s apple.

“Been thinking about you all day,” Dominic whispered, as Matthew disentangled his hands from his hair to pop a button on his shirt. His lips ghosted over the dusting of golden hair on his chest, and the rush of Matthew’s breath against his dampened skin set his heart thudding. “Couldn’t wait to get you like this.”

Matthew stood up straight again, Dominic cracking his eyelids to meet the wild blue stare before him. “I think  _I’m_  the one who has got  _you_  like this, actually,” he said with that infuriating grin Dominic had learned to admire, and he leant forward to kiss him. He was pushed back against the door, however, as Matthew’s nimble fingers slid to his shoulders and pushed his jacket down his arms. It fell to the floor with a thud, and Dominic used the opportunity to hold Matthew’s face with both his hands, deepening their kiss further. Matthew whined, and Dominic committed the sound to memory as they broke for air.

Panting, Matthew’s fingers worked down the buttons of Dominic’s shirt with ease, a grin spreading across his face as he reached the bottom. He pushed the shirt from Dominic’s broad shoulders, pale fingers touching as much tanned skin as they could reach. He hadn’t been able to see Mister Howard like this last night, and as his fingers skirted down his defined torso to his abs, Matthew struggled to fight the grin that remained on his face.

“I hope that’s not all you’re going to do to me tonight,” Dominic said, and Matthew’s head snapped up to see his teacher’s dangerous smirk.

_Looks like someone’s finally found their confidence_ .

“I mean, it’s awfully cute, but--”

Matthew pushed Dominic hard against the door, with his hand against his shoulder and a stern look on his face. “Call me cute again and I will make you beg for it,” Matthew warned, one hand still gripping Dominic’s shoulder but the other ghosting the outline of his cock in his suit trousers. Dominic’s mouth twitched into a smirk, before Matthew slammed his shoulder blade back against the door again.

“That  _hurts_ , you twat,” Dominic growled, and Matthew's dick jumped in his jeans. A flash of true anger had crossed his teacher’s face, and it was absolutely erotic.

“Please,” Matthew said in a dismissive tone, with a small smile on his face. He batted his eyelashes, just once. “A little bit of roughness never hurt anyone.”

“Glad to hear it,” Dominic said with a wry smile, and Matthew’s hand increased the pressure on his cock. The smile faltered as he gasped. “I don’t plan on calling you cute again. I’ve learnt my lesson, I promise.”

Dominic smirked.

“Sir,” he drawled.

Matthew stepped back with his eyebrows raised, his face a state of shock. Slowly but surely, a smile crept onto his face, and he chuckled, just once. “You  _bastard_ ,” he half-said, half-laughed. “I’m gonna make you come so hard. Bedroom, now.”

Grinning, Dominic toed off his shoes, kicking them noisily into the corner before bounding up the stairs in a manner that radiated with familiarity. Matthew followed suit, slinging his schoolbag down to the ground but taking the carrier bag upstairs with him. When he reached the top of the stairs, only one of the doors was open, through which he could see Dominic hurriedly pulling the duvet up his bed and fluffing one of the pillows.

“Not expecting company?” Matthew asked, leaning in the doorway with his arms crossed. He watches the nubs of Dominic’s spine roll up into a standing position, as the man turns to greet him.

“I was in a rush this morning. Someone kept me up late,” Dominic said, tone not quite sarcastic but already most of the way there. Matthew stepped into the room.

“Get on the bed,” he said in a tone which allowed no room for argument. Matthew pulled the condoms and lube out of the carrier bag, leaving the massage oil aside as he put it on Dominic’s chest of drawers.

Dominic was propped up against his pillows, watching Matthew put one knee on the bed with hungry eyes. He crawled up Dominic’s body, placing the lube and condoms on his bedside table, before settling himself on top of the warm body beneath him for a slow, languid kiss. Dominic's hips pressed up against his own, before long legs slowly wrapped around his waist. Matthew rolled his hips, his erection pressing against Dominic’s, and the man below him moaned.

“We didn’t get around to foreplay last time, did we?” Matthew asked as he broke the kiss. “Someone was too impatient.”

“Sorry, sir,” Dominic said as he tipped his head back into the pillows, letting Matthew nip gently at the corner of his jaw. They both knew that it was Matthew who had been impatient last night, yet neither would admit it.

“You’ll pay for that,” Matthew whispered against Dominic’s skin. Dominic’s hands, which had been placed firmly on Matthew’s arse, slowly slid up under his t-shirt, encouraging the boy to remove the garment. Matthew nipped Dominic’s skin just a little harder. “And  _that_ . Be patient.”

“But I  _can’t_  be patient,” Dominic said, running a hand through Matthew’s hair as he rolled his hips upwards again. He grabbed Matthew’s hand, thrusting it between their bodies, rolling his cock upwards against his open palm. “Can’t you feel how hard you’ve made me? I need you  _so_  badly, sir,” Dominic said lowly. He released Matthew’s hand, instead tucking his hands behind his head, biceps bulging with the strain of it. He tried his hardest not to smirk when he saw Matthew admiring the prominent veins in them, but he failed.

“You’re such a shit,” Matthew said, shuffling backwards whilst pressing kisses down Dominic’s chest, stopping just above his belly button as his chin scraped the metal buckle of Dominic’s belt. He ran the tip of his nose down the outline of Dominic’s cock in his trousers, before straightening up, sitting on his heels between Dominic’s spread legs. “Beg me for it.”

Dominic let out a snort of laughter. “What?!”

“Beg. Me. For. It.” Matthew said slowly, enunciating every word with clear conviction. He sat up slightly, arching his back as he pulled off his bright red t-shirt and flung it to the foor. Dominic caught a glimpse of a second tattoo on his left shoulder, but suddenly Matthew’s hands were on Dominic’s thighs, and moving upwards. “You want my cock, you _beg_  for my cock.”

Dominic inhaled sharply as Matthew’s thumbs brushed near his crotch, before he moved his hands away again. “Please,” he found himself saying, and as the thought of being filled by Matthew rushed into his head, words began to rush from his mouth. “Please sir, I need to be filled. I need your cock more than anything I’ve ever needed, I’ve been so bad, I need punishing, please sir, I--”

Matthew silenced Dominic with a frantic kiss, Dominic’s hands now down between them as he undid Matthew’s belt and fly. The student sighed as Dominic wrapped a hand around his dick, and even through his boxers it felt so good. He thrust into Dominic’s grip, almost begging for it himself before he realised that  _he_  was in charge.

“Trousers off,” Matthew said, and Dominic’s hand dropped from his crotch to his own. Matthew peeled his jeans down his legs and kicked them off the bed, followed by his socks and then his boxers. When he turned back, Dominic had thrown his trousers and boxers off the bed and was now fully naked, spread along the length of the bed with his pretty pink cock laying against his thigh.

“Fuck,” Matthew breathed, stroking himself gently, distractedly. “You look so good like that,” he continued, and Dominic let down his guard for a moment as he nervously grinned at Matthew. The brunet crawled up the bed again, laying flush against Dominic’s hard planes of muscle to press a chaste kiss to his lips. “I’ll be gentle,” Matthew said, gifting Dominic with another kiss. “At least, to begin with,” he continued in a darker tone with a wicked grin. Dominic made a sound low in his throat, three parts approval and one part desire, as Matthew reached for the lube.

Sitting back on his heels between Dominic’s legs once more, he coated his fingers generously before tossing the bottle aside. Giggling, he put the smallest amount of lube on his little finger, and drew a small, sticky smile just above the base of Dominic’s cock.

“You’re an idiot,” Dominic laughed, and any tension that had been between them melted away.

Matthew frowned comically. “That’s no way to speak to your teacher,” he said in a deep voice, attempting to imitate Mister Howard. Instead, Dominic laughed.

“And what exactly, are you going to be teaching me? I hardly--  _shit that’s cold_ .”

Matthew had traced one lubricated finger gently around Dominic’s entrance, giving his balls a gentle fondle with his free hand. “Sorry, what were you saying?” Matthew said with a smirk, looking up to find Dominic biting his lip in anticipation. “I was saying how I was going to teach you all about feeling good.”

Matthew pressed the tip of his finger into Dominic, allowing Dominic to get used to the sensation before he pushed it in further. He’d already been told that Dominic was a keen fan of using toys; he wasn’t going to waste any time being gentle with his fingers.

“It... it feels so good when it’s someone else, when it’s not... not yourself,” Dominic said, as Matthew withdrew slightly to add a second finger. He spread them as they were inside Dominic, and his teacher mewled. With his free hand, he tugged at his own cock, although the image of Dominic running his hands through his blond hair and twitching in anticipation kept him more than aroused.

“I never said you couldn’t touch yourself,” Matthew said, a dark surprise in his tone. Dominic fisted one hand in his hair and the other against his sheets.

“Like I said,” Dominic began, before his words trailed off into a moan as Matthew added a third finger. His legs bent at the knee as he drew them closer to his body, toes curling with pleasure. “Fuck, cunting  _hell_ .”

“Love it when you use that dirty mouth of yours,” Matthew said, left hand moving from his own dick to Dominic’s, working both of his hands in sync as to drive Dominic to the very edge. Dominic’s mouth opened in a gasp and he pressed his head back into the pillows, sweat curling the ends of his hair.

“I need your cock inside me right now,” Dominic ground out, lifting his head to meet Matthew’s eyes. “Need you to fuck me until I forget my name. M- _Matthew_ ,” Dominic whined as Matthew’s fingers purposefully brushed his prostate. The sound of Matthew’s name in such a desperate tone made the student’s dick twitch, and stopped touching Dominic for a moment as he reached for the condoms.

His teacher was an absolute mess, an angel thrashing around with need on the rumpled bedsheets. His fingers were twitching with an obvious need to touch his cock, rock hard and leaking pre-come. Sweat was beading in the centre of his chest, and the room already smelled like sex. Matthew bit his lip as he rolled the condom down his cock, before adding just an extra bit of lube. He knew from last night that you couldn’t have enough lube.

Matthew shuffled towards Dominic, remaining sat on his heels as he wrapped his arm around Dominic’s right leg. “You okay?” he asked gently, glancing up at Dominic before he looked back to where he was lining his cock up with Dominic’s entrance. The teacher nodded, before breathing a shaky “yeah”. Matthew wasn’t quite sure if it was nerves, desire or a dangerous mix of both that he could hear in Dominic’s thick voice.

Fingertips pressing into the flesh of Dominic’s thigh, Matthew eased himself forward slowly, the head of his cock pressing through the ring of muscle. He looked up from the mesmerising sight at the sound of Dominic’s choked moan. The teacher’s chest was arched off the bed as he panted, eyes shut until they shot open. “Sir,” he hissed, “please don’t stop.”

Dominic felt so good that Matthew would never have found the courage in him to stop, master or not. He continued pressing forward, into the vice of heat and sin that was Dominic’s willing body, welcoming him inch by inch until he was balls deep. His hands moved to Dominic’s hips as he leaned forward, licking at that little pool of sweat at the base of Dominic’s sternum as he did. Continuing up the tanned, trembling body beneath him, he kissed his teacher deeply and forcefully, Dominic’s sweat still on the tip of his tongue.

Dominic’s hands found Matthew’s shoulder blades, fingers tracing every muscle in his back as they walked up and down his spine, unknowingly caressing the tattoo on his shoulder at they did. The heat radiating between them was stifling, even during the early evening of a mid-September day. Dominic felt like every one of his nerve endings was on fire, and Matthew’s wet kisses across his neck were anything but the cool water he needed.

“You good?” Matthew asked again, gently, lips brushing gently against Dominic’s slick skin. He nodded, swallowing dryly. He could feel Matthew inside him and it felt glorious, especially as his fingers brushed the juncture of Matthew’s neck and collarbone, causing Matthew’s dick to twitch inside him. Dominic smiled; he’d found his sensitive spot. He pressed a kiss there, and Matthew’s breath hitched, hips beginning to rock gently.

With a moan, Dominic wrapped his legs around Matthew’s waist, tensing his thighs into those bony hips, causing a good kind of hurt. “Please,” he whispered into Matthew’s ear, his lips brushing the shell of it. Matthew’s head turned towards him, teasing him into a kiss as his thrusts became deeper, yet still slow and profound. Dominic’s cock, trapped between their bellies, was leaking and he could feel it, but all Dominic could focus on was the bright blue eyes staring into his own and the breaths they were sharing.

Dominic relished it, but he craved more. Matthew was able to unravel him in ways he could never accomplish on his own.

“Faster,” Dominic mumbled, as Matthew had been busy nipping and biting at Dominic’s collarbone, sure to leave a wonderful bruise. Matthew raised his head from the marred skin, as his hips stilled, pressed tightly inside Dominic. The man below him whined.

“No.”

Matthew slowly withdrew, panting as he felt Dominic move around him. He stopped when only the very head of his cock remained inside of Dominic, who writhed downwards on the bed, aching to be filled once more.

“Look at you,” Matthew said, laying one firm hand on Dominic’s chest and keeping his weight propped up on the other. “Absolute whore. Desperate for my cock. Are you going to beg?”

Dominic looked up at Matthew with fury in his eyes. “Fuck, you’re so hot when you’re angry,” Matthew murmured, before moving ever so slightly, giving Dominic another half inch or so of his cock. The teacher’s hands flew to Matthew’s shoulders, running up his neck and to the sides of his face, before fisting in his hair and pulling his head down to Dominic’s level.

“Fuck. Me.” Dominic ordered. Matthew grinned.

Matthew slammed into Dominic as hard as he could, not giving Dominic a chance to get used to the feeling once more as he picked up a rapid pace, pistoning in and out of Dominic’s body. The air in the room was stifling and oppressive against their sweaty skin, filled with the sounds of Matthew’s balls slapping against Dominic’s arse, Matthew’s heavy panting and Dominic’s choked moans.

“Matthew,” Dominic moaned, breath hitching in the middle as Matthew kissed him, sloppily and messily as their bodies writhed together. The headboard smacked against the wall as Matthew straightened up, breaking rhythm to lift Dominic’s hips off the bed, Dominic automatically lifting his legs over Matthew’s shoulders as if he’d been born to lie on his back and take it.

The new position allowed Matthew to go deeper, drawing curses and moans from Dominic that he’d never expected to hear. “Jesus cunting  _Christ_ ,” Dominic hissed, pulling at the bedsheets and throwing his head back into the pillows, his neck long and revealed as a glistening prize for Matthew’s hungry eyes. “I’m going to come,” he announced, looking up at Matthew, whose brow was furrowed with concentration. “ _Fffffffffffuck_ ,” Dominic moaned, thrashing his right arm so hard that the sheet he was holding tore. “Matthew, I’m--”

Matthew gripped the base of Dominic’s cock tightly as he slowed his pace ever so slightly, opting for longer, deeper strokes. “No, you’re not,” he said quite plainly, as Dominic whined and panted at having his orgasm torn out from under him. “You’re a needy slut, aren’t you, Dominic? What are you?”

Dominic gulped for air, his heartbeat still fluttering away in his chest as he tried to readjust to the pace, with Matthew’s cock just nudging his prostate at the end of every slow, precise thrust. “A needy slut,” he murmured lowly, watching Matthew roll his neck back and moan on one of the deeper thrusts. Dominic paused, contemplating, before he added: “Sir.”

Matthew’s fingers flexed on Dominic’s hip, whilst the fingers on his cock relaxed their grip and gave a slow tug when they both knew that Dominic’s orgasm wasn’t quite imminent. Dominic grinned, revelling in the reward after the punishment of being degraded by Matthew.

He got off on it though, and apparently, so did Matthew.

“Fuck, say it again. Tell me how much of a whore you are,” Matthew said, both hands now on Dominic’s hips as he sped up his pace again, his own orgasm not far off.

“I’m a desperate whore, sir,” Dominic continued, a smile on his face as he moaned between words and phrases. He felt filthy and he felt used, and he realised that he absolutely loved it. “I’m always aching for your cock, I’m just a cunt for you to fuck, sir, I’m just--”

Matthew thrust into Dominic harder than he ever had, pressing into him with all his weight as his toes curled, as his fingers gripped Dominic’s hips even tighter and as his orgasm took him by absolute surprise. He cried out, falling forward and only just catching himself before he fell face first onto Dominic’s chest. His arms were shaking as he gasped for air, trying to blink the black spots out of his eyes. “Fuck, fuck,” he panted repeatedly, before realising that Dominic was looking at him expectantly.

“You alright?” Dominic asked with a surprised smile on his face, and Matthew realised that Dominic’s hands were rubbing up and down his arms soothingly. Matthew straightened up, before giggling a little and pulling out of Dominic. He pulled off the condom, knotting it and aiming for the bin (it landed on the rim) before collapsing back on the bed next to Dominic.

Matthew chose to ignore Dominic’s question, because he was quite sure that the stupid grin across his face said it all. “Come here,” he murmured, pulling Dominic close for a long, slow kiss. Matthew could feel himself grinning into it, despite his best intentions, and Dominic reciprocated, tongues lazily meeting as if it was their first kiss all over again.

And to think that had only been the day before. Matthew felt like he’d known Dominic all his life, now, as he reached for Dominic’s cock, hard and hot in his hand. Dominic’s breath hitched mid-kiss, and it sounded like heaven to Matthew. He pulled Dominic towards him, manoeuvring them so Matthew was lying flat on his back, Dominic propped up on his side as Matthew worked his hand over his dick.

“You look... you look so good when you’re turned on,” Matthew said, and Dominic looked up from where his cock was rolling in and out of Matthew’s tight grip to smile at the boy. His cheeks were flushed, his eyes were bright and the sweat dappled across his skin looked incredible on him, like it belonged there. Matthew thought he looked like some kind of Greek god, but even in his dopey, post-orgasm state there was no way he would say that out loud.

“I could say the same,” Dominic said, leaning in for a kiss that Matthew was more than happy to share with him. Matthew’s grip shifted, corkscrewing Dominic’s cock with short, quick strokes over the head of it. “You look... innocent, yet dirty at the same time.”

Matthew smirked, reclining a little on the pillows, deliberately posing for Dominic as he tucked his free hand behind his head, showing off his arms. “What about now?” he asked, with a small little smile.

“Innocent,” Dominic said, as Matthew deliberately squeezed his cock a little harder. “Fuck, until you do that,” he hissed, panting as his orgasm grew closer. “I could... I know you could change that though...” he babbled, looking at Matthew with his jaw slack as Matthew’s hand sped up.

“Yeah?” Matthew asked airily. “You want to dirty me, corrupt me?”

Dominic hissed as Matthew slowed his hand, for just a second, before speeding up again. “Yes,” Dominic said, his free hand now rubbing up and down Matthew’s pale thigh, fingers absentmindedly drumming as he felt his orgasm coil in his belly, waiting. “Yes.”

“I want you to come on me.”

Dominic’s eyes flew open as he looked at Matthew. “Wha-- are you sure?”

“Try to get some on my face if you can,” Matthew said with a smile, his hand dropping from Dominic’s cock as Dominic reached for it himself. With strong, fast strokes, Dominic wanked himself off and Matthew watched hungrily, craving the degradation as much as he craved every other part of the man.

With a groan and a sudden shuffle to get a better angle, Dominic was coming. He shouted Matthew’s name as he continued tugging at his cock, hot spurts of come landing thickly between Matthew’s nipples and the furthest landing in a long streak across his lips and almost up his nose. Dominic fell flat on the bed, exhausted from being kept on edge for so long, and a moment’s silence stretched between them, filled only with their heavy breathing.

“Dom,” Matthew said quietly, a few moments later. Dominic turned to look at him, letting out a bark of laughter at the line of come between his chin and his nose.

“You animal,” Dom said softly, not protesting at all when Matthew drew him into a kiss and he tasted himself on Matthew’s sticky lips. “It tastes a bit...”

“Are you telling me you’ve never tasted your own come before?” Matthew asked, laughing. He used his index finger to retrieve the bit on his chin, before licking it clean. “And you called  _me_  an animal.”

Dominic watched on with wide eyes and a look of disbelief on his face. “I... I don’t think you will ever cease to amaze me, Matthew.”

“I’m taking that as a compliment. Thank you,” Matthew beamed, before eyeing up the come on his chest. “Can I... um...”

Dominic passed Matthew a tissue, with which he wiped away the come on his chest. As he rolled over to aim at the bin again (missing miserably), Dominic held out a hand and stopped him mid-roll.

“I thought I saw another tattoo,” he said quietly, in a reverent tone normally reserved for worship. His free hand traced it; a pin-up doll sat on a skull, a simple outline but somehow not overtly rude.

“I want to get it filled when I turn eighteen,” Matthew said over his shoulder, before Dominic let him roll back over towards him. “My cousin’s a proper tattoo artist, so we use all his stuff out of hours at the studio. But, y’know, I’m not meant to have them so they’re small and quick sessions,” Matthew said with a laugh, and Dominic smiled at him.

The reality of what he’d just done came crashing down on him. He turned his head to look blankly at the ceiling. “Christ,” he muttered. “I ditched a sixth form class to have sex with a student.”

Matthew glanced at the digital clock on Dominic’s bedside table. “Actually, no,” he said in a chipper tone. “Technically, we didn’t, because school ends at four and we didn’t start fucking until half four.”

“Cheers, Matt,” Dominic said as he continued staring at the ceiling. Matthew rolled over on the bed, looking at his teacher with his brow furrowed slightly.

“You look like you need a cigarette,” Matthew announced, before clambering off the bed. Dominic tried his hardest to stay upset at the boy, but failed when Matthew stubbed his toe and unleashed a stream of curses that would make a soldier blush. He was out of the door in a flash, still stark bollock naked, and Dominic found himself rolling his eyes.

Matthew reappeared in the doorway a few moments later with the carton of cigarettes and a lighter in his hand, looking triumphant. He crossed the room to crack open the window, before crawling back into bed (over Dominic’s legs, nonetheless) and kicking his way down under the torn sheets.

“Get in, you twat,” Matthew said, and Dominic found himself shuffling under the sheets too, exhaustion hitting him suddenly. Matthew passed Dominic a cigarette, before stopping short of lighting it. “Do you have an ashtray, or something? Might be a bit difficult to explain to the firemen as to why your house burned down with your student in it.”

Dominic shook his head with a smile, before turning and reaching for an empty glass on his bedside table. “Perfect,” Matthew said, before sitting up a little bit to light his cigarette. Dominic followed suit, allowing his cigarette to be lit for him, Matthew’s fingers caressing his cheekbone as he did so. Instantly, Dominic’s worries about Matthew melted away with the very first drag.

“That feels... that feels really good after sex, actually,” Dominic said.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. It’s like... you’ve had one good hit, why not have another, you know?” Dominic laughed, and Matthew found himself laughing too. “I can see why you did it yesterday. It’s kind of hot, too. Smoking.”

Matthew nodded, exhaling. “Massive turn on, for me. When I saw you, smoking earlier...” Matthew let his head fall back against the wall, back against the headboard. “Christ, I’m surprised I didn’t come there and then.”

Dominic laughed under his breath. “Poetic,” he said, as he took another drag. “Do the songs you write have lyrics as pretty as ‘I’m surprised I didn’t come there and then’?” Dominic asked. Matthew shoved him lightly in the arm.

“Dick,” he said quietly, still smiling. “Nah, they’re about, y’know. Teenage angst, love, hatred of the system, fucking your teachers, all the jazz.” Dominic simply looked at Matthew. “Fuck, you are so easy to wind up,” he said, laughing.

Dominic tapped the ash of his cigarette into the glass perched between them, before taking another drag. “You sing too, don’t you?” Dominic asked. Matthew nodded. “Will you play for me, someday?” he asked, looking away to admire the smoke curling from the end of his cigarette before he looked back at Matthew. He sat the tail-end of a violent blush before Matthew made a show of taking a drag from his cigarette.

“I’d love to,” Matthew said quietly. Dominic smiled, taking a final drag before stubbing out his cigarette in the bottom of the glass. Matthew did the same, before Dominic moved the glass of smoking ashes off the bed. Instinctively, Matthew moved closer to Dominic, placing his head against his chest. With a fond smile, Dominic wrapped his arm around Matthew’s shoulders.

“I wish I could play an instrument,” Dominic sighed wistfully. “I used to drum, when I was your age, but kind of stopped at university. Got difficult to lug around a whole kit each time I moved.”

“You should start up again though, maybe,” Matthew said, index finger drawing random patterns in the muscles of Dominic’s stomach. His fingertip stuck to where he had drawn the smiley in lube, now dried to Dominic’s skin, and he smiled. “Playing an instrument, especially the drums, is good for de-stressing, working tension out of your system and all that.”

Dominic held Matthew a little closer. “I think I might’ve found that already,” he said, dropping a kiss into Matthew’s messy hair and smiling when the boy looked up at him.

“We need to talk about this,” Matthew found himself saying, feeling much more adult than his seventeen years should’ve allowed. Dominic simply kissed his hair again.

“I know. But let’s pretend, just for a moment, that we’re just two, legally consenting adults, who just had the best sex of their lives and are going to order takeaway in a little while,” Dominic said, watching Matthew’s worried face turn to a grin.

“Cocky shit. As if you think you were the best shag of my life,” Matthew teased, flicking at Dominic’s nipple until his hand got batted away. Matthew attempted to tickle Dominic under his armpits, then, until Dominic pinned Matthew down on the bed, flat on his back.

“I don’t know,” Dominic said, leading Matthew on as he neared for a kiss. “You’re the one who nearly blacked out, you came so hard.”

“Lies,” Matthew whispered, pulling Dominic down into a kiss. They snogged lazily for a few moments, so slowly that there was no chance of either of them getting too turned on again. Matthew broke the kiss for air. “Wait, did you mention takeaway?”

“Ahh,” Dominic said. “So that’s where the boy’s heart lies,” he said mischievously, Matthew scowling at him.

“All I had for lunch was a bacon sandwich. It’s not  _my_  fault that you fucked the living daylights out of me,” Matthew said petulantly, folding his arms across his chest. Dominic laughed, rolling back over to lie at Matthew’s side.

“Hang on, I thought you were the one who was meant to fucking  _me_  into the mattress?” Dominic asked, kissing Matthew’s collarbone gently. He moved his lips so they brushed the corner of his jaw. “ _Sir_ .”

Matthew smirked, putting his hands on Dominic’s shoulders in caution. “Don’t, do not. I’m hungry and if you say that again, you’re not leaving this bed for a good hour or so, at least.”

Dominic grinned, remembering something Matthew had said at the end of their encounter the day before. “Is that a threat, or a promise?”

“Both,” Matthew hurried to reply, as he pulled Dominic in for a desperate kiss.


	5. Chapter 5

“So what do you want?”

“Your cock in my arse.”

“Oh yeah, I’m sure somewhere on the high street will do that.  _Yes, I’d like to have your cock in my arse, please_ . Might not go down too well.”

Matthew burst into full-on giggles, curling up in the corner of Dominic’s sofa as he laughed into his hands. Dominic rolled his eyes with a small smirk on his face as he shuffled through the plethora of takeaway menus he kept by the phone. “It’s midweek, so pizza, Indian or Chinese. Chippy’s closed, sadly.”

Matthew frowned. “Chippy should be open.”

Dominic looked at him. “Well, if you hadn’t spent twenty minutes upstairs snogging me senseless then it might’ve still been open.”

With a grin, Matthew crawled up the sofa towards Dominic. “Seemed pretty consensual to me,” he purred.

“God, you’re irritating,” Dominic laughed, running a hand through Matthew’s hair before pulling him close so he could see the menus too. After their snogging session, and after Matthew had scrubbed his face clean, Dominic had found him a baggy hoodie and pair of trackies, which drowned the student in a way Dominic dared to call adorable. Clad in similar house clothes, they had relocated to the lounge to order food and pass the time recovering from their exhausting afternoon. “I fancy pizza, myself. I had Chinese last night.”

“Do you ever cook?” Matthew teased. Dominic glared at him briefly before kissing the tip of his nose.

“Rich coming from you.”

“Oi!” Matthew said, affronted. “I make a fucking orgasmic lasagne so you can fuck off,” he whined, and Dominic laughed, pulling him close for a lazy kiss.

“If your lasagne can make me orgasm as well as your dick does then I  _really_ want you to make me some,” Dominic murmured against Matthew’s lips, before Matthew broke away laughing.

“You’d be lucky,” Matthew scoffed, but his eyes held a promise. “Pizza’s good for me. I can get them if you want.”

It was Dominic’s turn to laugh. “Calm down geezer, no need to flash the cash,” he said as he threw aside all of the non-pizza menus. “One each, yeah? What do you fancy? Don’t say--”

“You.”

“--fuck’s sake,” Dominic said as they both burst out laughing. “I’m gonna get a Meat Feast,” Dominic said absentmindedly, still scanning the menu. He looked up at Matthew who was barely suppressing laughter. “Piss off.”

Matthew tittered under his breath. “Can I have ham and mushroom, please?” he asked sweetly. Dominic cocked an eyebrow at him.

“I see, so you’re polite when you want something.”

“I can beg if you want,” Matthew murmured against Dominic’s ear, and Dominic dropped the menu as he tried to cope with the writhing bundle of Matthew now attempting to climb into his lap.

“Matt-- Christ, let me just order the pizza. We’ll have to wait anyway.”

Matthew grinned as Dominic picked up the phone.

~

“I think I’ve died and gone to heaven,” Dominic groaned into a bite of his pizza, as they sat on the floor of the lounge with their backs against the sofa and early-evening television playing on a low volume in the corner. They ate the first slice or so of their respective pizzas in a comfortable silence, before Matthew broke it.

“Dom?”

The anxious tone in Matthew’s voice was foreign. “Yeah?”

“We need to talk,” Matthew said, and Dominic began to open his mouth to speak before Matthew continued. “And I’ve been having a think... I think once I leave this house tonight... or maybe tomorrow if I’m lucky--” Matthew winked at Dominic before his face grew serious again with a sigh. “No, shit, no I meant... I don’t want it to be just about the sex.”

“Oh?”

“I... I want to get to know you better. Even over the past day or so I just haven’t been able to stop thinking about you, and I remember all those times in lessons, you’re just... I know I probably sound mad, but you just... I’m so attracted to you and it’s not just things like your dick and arse and I have no idea what to do about it.”

Dominic would’ve laughed, if it wasn’t for Matthew’s near pained tone. He put his pizza box down and shuffled closer to Matthew, who instantly melted into his side. “I think maybe we should have a few weeks apart,” the student said, nearly mumbling now. “I don’t know about you but I need to work it all out, it’s been a whirlwind twenty-four hours...”

“I agree,” Dominic said, dropping a kiss into Matthew’s hair. “And the fact that this is, y’know, highly illegal doesn’t make the decision much easier.”

“Dom.”

“Sorry.”

Dominic found his hand rubbing soothing circles into Matthew’s back, before the boy shifted to reach for another slice of pizza, Dominic laughing and the tension slowly beginning to seep out of their bodies. “Maybe we should have like... a week or two apart,” Matthew said. “Because I feel like I kind of appeared out of the blue and... y’know, I might look like I don’t give a shit about how people feel about me, but I would hate it if you only stuck with me because I’d been the only option. Know what I mean?”

“I... yeah,” Dominic laughed a little. “You have a way with words.”

“Thanks.”

“You said that a lot better than I would’ve, though,” Dominic said, holding Matthew tight into his side. “I struggle expressing my feelings. I guess that’s why I’ve never really had a boyfriend before, or ever really gotten past a dating stage, or ever gotten past a first date.”

“Aw,” Matthew said, placing a cheesy kiss on Dominic’s cheek. He grimaced.

“Piss off,” he laughed, before sighing quietly. “I think that’s what we need to do. I... I like you, Matthew. When you’re not being a complete cock and disrupting my lessons, that is. You’re this... this  _enigma_ , and I want to work you out. I think it’d be fun...”

“I sense a but,” Matthew said warily. Dominic nodded.

“But I can’t change my job or put my life on the line for someone who might just... disappear,” he said, the final word simply a whisper.

“So you’re saying... it’d have to be all or nothing?”

“Yeah,” Dominic said, almost sounding unsure.

“I agree,” Matthew said, and Dominic turned to meet his eyes for the first time in a few minutes, and he found Matthew smiling. “So we take a few weeks off, then we can decide if we’re both ready to do something or if we want to quit while we’re ahead.”

“You are wise beyond your years,” Dominic said with a small smile, before leaning forward and capturing Matthew’s lips in a chaste kiss. “I’m going to miss your kisses,” he mumbled against the student’s mouth. Matthew laughed.

“I’m not going to miss my pizza going cold though,” Matthew quipped as he broke away, before reaching for yet another slice.

They finished their pizzas as they watched the telly, Dominic reaching for the remote and turning the volume up a little. “Do you want to watch a film?” Dominic asked a little while later, after they’d cleaned up the boxes and sat back down on the sofa as opposed to the floor. “Got Netflix on my Xbox.”

“Nerd,” Matthew snorted, before Dominic picked up his controller and began scrolling through films. “Wait, is that Kill Bill? I fucking  _love_ Kill Bill!”

“God, I’ve seen this hundreds of times,” Dominic said, hovering over it for a moment before he turned to Matthew, who was cuddled into his side, against almost every instinct of Dominic’s that told him that he wouldn’t be the cuddly type. “Are you sure?”

“I practically know this film word for word. Please?” Matthew gave Dominic his best puppy eyes.

“You’re a royal pain,” Dominic muttered, smiling and sighing quietly as Matthew pressed a small kiss to the corner of his jaw as he started the film.

“I love this film,” Matthew said as the opening scene began to play. “It’s just so... scattered. But so fucking cool. I can’t wait for the bit with Elle.”

Dominic smiled at the enthusiasm in Matthew’s voice. He curled his hand around the student’s waist, skinny even with the oversized hoodie. “Which bit?”

“When she’s whistling and getting into the nurse outfit, she’s so fucking sick. You wait, just you wait.”

With a smirk on his lips, Dominic and Matthew continued watching as the heroine got into her first fight. “But the Bride though, she’s badass...” Dominic said.

“Nah, I’m all about Elle. She’s coming up, look!”

Laughing, Dominic glanced at Matthew’s smiling face in the near-darkness of his lounge. He pressed a kiss to Matthew’s temple, as the whistling song they were so familiar with drifted through the speakers.

“Oh God, she’d get it,” Matthew said with a groan. Dominic poked him in the side. “What?!”

“You are  _such_ a teenager,” Dominic said, looking at Matthew and seeing his eyes glued to the screen.

“Oh come on. As a gay man, you still have to admit that Daryl Hannah is fit,” Matthew said, gesturing towards the telly and then turning to Dominic.

“I think it’s the nurse outfit that’s got you so interested,” he said with a smirk.

Matthew shifted, turning next to Dominic so he was facing him fully. “I like uniforms, what can I say?” he said lowly, the tone of his voice barely shifting, but Dominic caught onto it. “Always wanted to try them.” Matthew’s face was close now, their noses brushing.

“My God,” Dominic said, pressing a kiss against Matthew’s lips. The boy whined. “Matthew Bellamy hasn’t actually experienced everything in the world.”

“Piss off,” Matthew breathed against Dominic’s lips, eyes still closed. They slowly kissed again, and Dominic could feel his smile against his own. Carefully, with his hand on Matthew’s waist, Dominic guided him until he laid flat on his back on the sofa, with Dominic hovering above him. Their kisses deepened as Dominic found himself between Matthew’s legs, tongues probing each other’s mouths with Kill Bill entirely forgotten in the background.

“You know what I haven’t experienced yet?” Dominic murmured against Matthew’s neck. The student shifted, so he was propped up against the armrest of the sofa, Dominic’s hands trailing down his stomach towards the band of the tracksuit bottoms. “I’ve never given head.”

Matthew’s mouth popped open at Dominic’s sudden turn in behaviour. “Oh,” he stuttered, caught off guard. Dominic grinned up at him wolfishly, as he pulled Matthew’s borrowed tracksuit bottoms down to around his knees.

“By the looks of it, I don’t think you’ll mind if you’re my first?” Dominic asked, a lilt to his voice as he lowered his head, pressing his nose against the bulge in Matthew’s boxers.

“Not at all,” Matthew said on a breathy exhale, blinking and not quite believing that Dominic was quite so eager to give him a blow job, his very first at that.

Dominic pulled Matthew’s boxers down, the room quiet except for some incomprehensible Japanese playing from the television. Dominic kept one hand on Matthew’s thigh, steadying himself, as the other roamed his lower stomach and his hip, muscles flexing and tensing at the touch. Flicking his eyes up towards Matthew, the expression on the boy’s face spurred him to put his lips to the base of his cock. Matthew’s eyebrows came together slightly, and Dominic suppressed the urge to laugh.

He knew  _exactly_ what he was doing.

Dominic licked a thick stripe up Matthew’s cock, following the vein and taking the head straight into his mouth with a wet suck. “Fuck!” Matthew swore loudly, reaching down to run his hands through Dominic’s hair in encouragement. Dominic sucked more of Matthew into his mouth, enjoying all of the whining noises and breathy moans Matthew was making in result. Slowly, he eased Matthew’s cock deeper, secretly thrilled that he could take nearly all of Matthew into his mouth without struggling. He’d always imagined giving a blowjob, but as he slowly worked up a rhythm, bobbing his head up and down in Matthew’s lap, he’d never realised it would be so rewarding.

“Jesus Christ, Dom,” Matthew moaned, and Dominic looked up at him through his eyelashes. “Fuck me, you look so good.”

Dominic slowed down, shifting so he could hold Matthew’s cock steady as he let his mouth leave his pink, flushed skin. “Think I was born to suck your dick,” Dominic murmured, pressing kisses down the side of Matthew’s erection.

Matthew’s toes curled in ecstasy as he moaned. “Oh God.” Dominic took Matthew back into his mouth again, sucking on the head, and using his free hand to cup his balls gently, rolling them between his fingers in a gentle massage. Dominic chose that moment to take Matthew’s cock deep into his mouth, and Matthew let out an animalistic groan. Dominic swirled his tongue around the head at the top of each suck, causing Matthew to mutter a stream of curses under his breath.

Pausing for a moment, Dominic grinned up at Matthew, a string of saliva between his bottom lip and the head of Matthew’s dick. “This turns me on so much,” he said lowly, slowly licking his lips. “I love having your cock in my mouth.”

Matthew tipped his head back with a long groan. “I cannot fucking deal with you,” he murmured to no one in particular. Dominic laughed, before sucking Matthew once more, right to the back of his throat.

“Fuck fuck  _fuck_ !” Matthew shouted, fingers tugging at clumps of Dominic’s hair. “Oh my ffffffucking God  _yes_ yes  _yes_ don’t stop oh fuck,” Matthew blurted, “keep doing that.” Dominic kept up the rhythm as Matthew writhing beneath him. “I’m close... if you--”

Dominic looked up at Matthew and simply winked.

“ _Dom_ !” Matthew moaned, the name drawn out as he came, gripping Dominic’s hair tight as he thrust into his willing mouth. “Oh God you filthy fucking bastard,” he said, laughing deliriously. “You...”

Dominic swallowed down all Matthew had to offer, before gently removing Matthew’s cock from his mouth and wiping his lips dry. He rubbed his jaw a little, before tucking Matthew back into his boxers and helping pull his trackies back up. He smiled at Matthew’s dopey grin, as the boy leant back, staring up at the ceiling.

“I wasn’t expecting that,” Matthew said with a little giggle, before tipping his head to look at Dominic, who was still kneeling between his legs. Matthew shifted, reaching for Dominic and pulling him up the sofa so they were side by side. “I’m pretty sure that was the best blow job of my life.”

“You say that like you’ve had millions,” Dominic replied carefully.

“Well, maybe not quite millions,” Matthew said, winking. Dominic laughed with him. He turned to the television briefly, seeing that the film was now somewhere through the scene with the Crazy 88. “I just... where did all that dirty talk come from? That turned me on nearly as much as, you know, you having my dick in your mouth did.”

“So eloquently put,” Dominic said sarcastic, before he leant his head on Matthew’s shoulder, the student wrapping an arm around him. “I don’t know where it came from, I just... I’ve been imagining doing that for a while, I think. I think I used up all of my dirty talk for the next year or two though.”

Matthew giggled, kissing Dominic’s hair. “Good thing you still turn me on without you having to talk. It’s going to make the next two weeks pretty difficult to get through,” he said, Dominic pulling back to meet his gaze. “Knowing how brilliant your mouth is.” They both laughed quietly, the mood now intimate and happy. “Thank you,” Matthew whispered, and Dominic simply smiled.

~

Matthew left Dominic’s house just as the sun was coming up the next morning. They’d watched the end of Kill Bill before making their way upstairs, falling asleep almost as soon as they’d gotten into bed. They had kissed goodbye behind closed doors, and Matthew had set out in the direction of his own home, for a shower and a change of clothes before school.

Dominic’s house felt empty as he went back through it, tidying up. He tried not to think about Matthew but he was everywhere, despite having only been in his home for just over twelve hours. He was almost glad that he hadn’t given Matthew his number, because he was sure he would already anxiously been waiting for a text, or would’ve tried sending one already, probably making a fool of himself in the process. Dominic sighed as he stripped off for a shower. It would be a long few weeks.

~

Matthew leant against the back of the bikeshed, exhaling deeply after the first drag of his third cigarette of the day. It had been a few days since he’d left Dominic’s house, and whilst he wasn’t in the actual proximity of the teacher, his mind begged to differ. He’d barely been able to think about anything else, and had noticed he was getting through his cigarettes quicker than usual. Even working on his music coursework and trying to write songs hadn’t helped.

One song, however, that he’d been working on for months but abandoned a few weeks ago had been pulled from the depths of his desk drawers and worked on again. Matthew had laughed as suddenly the words had fit into place and the melody had seemed to work. Dominic appeared to be his muse.

Matthew snorted at the memory as he took another drag of his cigarette. “Got a spare?”

His head whipped around to the female voice. “Kelly,” Matthew grinned, as she squeezed her way down between the fence and the brick wall. When she was close enough, he pulled her into a hug, cigarette outstretched away from them. “Where were you yesterday?” he asked as she pulled back, leaning against the wall next to him as he patted himself down for his cigarette carton, before offering her one.

“Ta,” she said, digging out her own lighter to light it. It dangled from her mouth, dark red lipstick sticking to the white paper. “Couldn’t deal with Mrs Larne’s shit again so I skipped. Soz for not sending you a text,” she said with a shrug.

Up until the second half of Year 12, Kelly had been a sweet girl who dressed in pastels and hung around with the pretty girls in their little clique. She and her friends had started hanging out with some of the footballers, who were in the same kind of social circle as Matthew and all the troublemakers. Matthew laughed; it had been only a matter of time until Kelly found out how to have fun. “No worries,” Matthew replied, zipping his dark red hoodie up a little bit higher before flicking his cigarette down onto the concrete.

Kelly pulled her leather jacket tighter around her, before glancing up at Matthew. “What lessons you got today?” she asked, taking a drag on her cigarette. “Fuck, I needed this.”

“Had music first thing, now got a free, and meant to have English but...”

“Ew,” Kelly sneered, and Matthew laughed. “Well I got in late because I was out over Chris’ last night...” Matthew turned to her and she winked. “Fuck yeah like that!”

“Fucking hell Kels, tell me  _everything_ ,” Matthew said excitedly. “Didn’t you only start dating a few weeks ago?!” Kelly exhaled her cigarette smoke to the side, tousling up her long brown hair with her free hand.

“Yeah, but... Only if you tell me who the fuck you’ve been caught up on over the last week. Don’t even deny it Bells, I’m not buying your shit.”

Matthew laughed and Kelly dropped her hard girl persona for a moment. “Nah but seriously, want to go get lunch in town? We can gossip and shit about dicks without anyone pissing us off, and get booze for tonight.”

“Perfect,” Matthew said, Kelly beaming up at him. “Are you skipping?”

“No, I’m a good little girl,” she giggled. “I’ve actually got a free, unlike  _some_ people. Perfect way to end the week. Jealous?”

Matthew punched Kelly lightly on the arm before they both squeezed out from behind the bike sheds, not bothering to sign out as they began to wander towards town. They talked mainly about the weather (shit), their coursework (shit), and the party that night (hopefully amazing) as they worked their way towards their favourite sandwich shop, the very one Matthew had visited before he’d met Mister Howard on Tuesday afternoon. He shook that thought from his head as they both ordered BLTs before taking a seat at one of the tiny tables by the window.

“Tell me  _everything_ about last night,” Matthew said first, Kelly rolling her eyes but smiling nonetheless. “If it’s good enough, Imight tell you something about what’s happened this week. Maybe.”

“You’re such a cunt,” Kelly laughed, before she sighed. “ _Fine_ . So Chris had practice last night and I went along to watch because, you know, I want that dick.” Matthew burst out laughing, choking on the a mouthful of the can of Coke he’d bought. “I can’t fucking take you anywhere,” Kelly whined but she giggled as Matthew wiped his nose.

“For fuck’s sake, you only said that because I was drinking.”

“Maybe,” Kelly smirked, before she continued, tapping her red nails against the table. “Anyway. So I’m hanging out and he’s like, ‘wanna come back to mine? I’ll need to shower’ and you guys are so fucking easy to read, that’s basically a concealed ‘wanna fuck?’, right? So I go back with him and he’s in the shower, I’m sitting on his bed--”

“Touching yourself,” Matthew chipped in, hoping to add to the banter as any teenage boy would. When Kelly simply smiled and looks down at her nails, Matthew laughed loud enough to make the elderly couple at the back of the room turn their heads. “Oh my fucking God, I love you Kelly.”

“Yeah, thanks for that,” she said with a bitter tone, but there was still a smile on her face. “So yeah, he comes in and sees me doing that and drops his towel and like, yeah, there’s his dick. Hard and everything, would’ve been a waste otherwise, y’know?”

“You are brilliant,” Matthew said slowly, as the waitress appeared with their sandwiches, the bacon sizzling hot between the lettuce and tomatoes. “And you stayed the night?”

“Yeah, kinda accidentally. I snuck out this morning before his parents woke up, and managed to get into my own room before mine did, so... win win?” she giggled. “Anyway, you heard my goss, tell me yours.”

Matthew blushed behind his sandwich, just as he had with Tom on the morning of going to Dominic’s house when asked the same question. “Well, first, it’s a guy,” Matthew said carefully, knowing Kelly wouldn’t mind and would much rather hear the  _juicy details_ as opposed to Tom.

Kelly grinned, waving her hand. “I thought it would’ve been a guy, otherwise you wouldn’t have been so secretive about it. You’re usually bragging at the top of your voice about how you’re  _knee deep in clunge_ .” Kelly tried an impression and Matthew simply put his head in his hands.

“God, I used to be embarrassing.”

“You still are.”

“Thanks Kels,” Matthew said, before smiling and eating more of his sandwich. “But... I mean... It’s only been a thing since the start of this week, but I already feel like...”

Kelly whistled lowly. “Wow. He’s got you wrapped round his little finger,” she laughed, and Matthew smiled because he had nothing to say about that. “Hey, you gonna bring him to the party tonight?”

Matthew tried not to choke on his sandwich at the very thought. “Um, no, it’s not really his scene,” Matthew said quickly, suddenly feeling a bit weird.

“Bells, what’s got you like this? He’s not dodgy, is he? You’re acting strange,” Kelly said, frowning and leaning forward. “Is he a dealer or something?”

Matthew laughed nervously. “Quite the opposite actually, he’s a goody-two-shoes,” Matthew said, a smile spreading across his face before he stopped himself. “Kels, can you keep a secret?”

Kelly’s face softened. This was the first time Matthew had asked this of her. “‘Course, Bells,” she said with a sweet smile.

“I mean like, this is a fucking huge secret. If you told someone you’d actually ruin his life.”

Kelly blinked, eyebrows raising. “Sure, babe,” she said, “I’m not that cruel. Y’know, under all this leather and stunning beauty there’s still quite a nice little girl.”

Matthew snorted, before shaking his head. His face grew serious as he took a deep breath in. “This guy... it’s Mister Howard.”

To Kelly’s credit, she took the news very well. She stayed silent, her eyes flicked up to the ceiling. “I can imagine that, actually,” she said, and a smile grew on her face. “That’s kind of cute. He’s not that old, is he?”

“He’s twenty-three,” Matthew replied, still feeling anxious. Kelly hummed, still smiling.

“And you like him?”

Matthew smiled, just thinking about the way Dominic had held him tight a few nights ago as they had drifted off to sleep together. “It’s kind of frightening how fast I’ve fallen for him. Especially because we kind of, ha, jumped in at the deep end,” Matthew said as a blush crept up his cheeks, Kelly smacking his arm.

“No  _way_ !” she said. “And you didn’t tell me?!” Her face was one of absolute surprise. Matthew shrugged.

“It’s not something I can go around telling people, really. You’re my best mate Kels, you’re the only person I’m going to tell. Well, and Tom, but he’s basically--”

“--the brother you never had, I know. Jesus you two are annoying,” she laughed. “But... wow, that was fast. Wait, isn’t he teaching sex-ed now?”

“Yeah. That’s when it all kind of began, ironically,” Matthew said, giggling a little. He felt a bit less nervous now that his ‘big secret’ was out to the last person who he would be telling it to, for the meantime. “You shouldn’t have skipped. God knows what Monday’s lesson is going to be like.”

“Aw, will he be sending you lovey eyes from across the room?” Kelly teased. Matthew glared at her.

“We’re not seeing each other for a few weeks, because... it’s difficult. It’s going to be one of those all or nothing ones, and that’s kind of scary. Like we’re going to have to jump in or jump ship, if that make sense.”

Kelly smiled at the sight of Matthew, fiddling with some of the crumbs on his now empty plate. “Look at you,” she said, and he looked up at her with a quizzical expression. “You’ve fallen hard and fast for him, whether you like it or not. And I mean, think about it, you kind of know him, don’t you? Like, you can kind of assess what type of person he is, because you’ve been in his classes and all that. Like...” she drawled as she paused, waving one of her dainty hands around in the air, a mannerism she’d picked up off Matthew. “Like, he’s going to be a good guy, because he’s a teacher. Educated. Speaks French, that’s pretty hot if you think about--”

“Kels.”

“Alright, but you get my gist? I think you’re kind of allowed to fall fast and hard, because it’s like... it’s like something you’ve seen everyday for years, and until you went and actually got it you didn’t realise how much you loved it. I don’t know, I can’t explain. But I don’t blame you. It’s nice to see you like this, actually.”

Matthew smiled. “Is that meant to be a compliment?”

Kelly laughed. “If you complimented  _me_ more I would compliment  _you_ more often. I fucking dyed my hair last weekend and you didn’t say a word, dick’ead.” They both giggled, before deciding to go. They slid off their seats and paid at the till, before walking back outside.

“So, you game for tonight then? Without Mister Howard, of course,” Kelly laughed, linking arms with Matthew.

“‘Course. Can we get some Archers from the offy? I think I need to get drunk,” Matthew laughed.

“Fair. I’ve got work tomorrow morning,” Kelly said, pulling a dramatic face of despair, “so I’m only drinking light. I’ll make sure you don’t go and, like, tell everyone you’re fucking the French teacher.”

“Thanks Kels.”

“That’s what friends are for, right?” she giggled, and Matthew pulled her closer by the arm in agreement. Kelly was, by far, one of the best friends he could’ve asked for.

~

Kelly had knocked at Matthew’s house later that night, and so they were now making their way to the party at Tom’s, as his parents were away for the weekend. Kelly babbled on about all the people that were going to be there, and how she hoped Chris would be there too, but Matthew was trying desperately to simply not think of how lonely he would feel all night.

“I’m in so fucking deep,” Matthew said, more to himself than anything, during a lull in conversation. Kelly patted his arm soothingly.

“You’ll be fine, Bells. Just drink and forget everything, you know?” she said, as they turned the corner onto the street, music already pouring from the illuminated house. “I guess that’s the one,” she laughed, tugging Matthew down the road.

Inside, it was absolutely rammed. There were people everywhere and alcohol in every other available space. Matthew quickly poured himself an Archers and lemonade, with worrying little lemonade and a lot of Archers. He was going to drink, and dance, and forget all about Dominic Howard.

~

Matthew groaned awake, cracking open his eyelids to blinding sunlight. With a whine, he shut them again, before trying to burrow under the covers. Except, there were no covers. He sat up a little, looking around. He was in a bathtub, in a bathroom he didn’t recognise, with no shirt on and the taste of sick in his mouth.

“Fuck,” he whispered hoarsely, trying to sit up further before his head started spinning. “Gross.”

Kelly appeared in the doorway with a knowing smile on her face. “Morning, princess,” she said, skipping lightly to the mirror to unpin and redo her hair. Matthew simply groaned in response, before slumping back down in the bathroom again. “You were an absolute fucking mess last night,” she said, enunciating every word, “but you still manage to surprise me every time you get drunk.”

Matthew blinked slowly. “What?” he asked in a gravelly tone. His head hurt. A lot.

“Every time a girl came up to you, you pushed her away saying that you were taken,” Kelly said, an adoring little smile on her face. “It was so cute. You even tried to push me away, even though I’m not interested in going anywhere near your mangy dick.”

“Thanks,” he murmured, putting a hand over his face and dragging it slowly down over his features. “Did I say his name?”

“Nah,” Kelly said, before turning to Matthew. “You just kept going on about having someone and wanting to be loyal to them. You wouldn’t even kiss anyone in truth or dare so we kicked you out, you didn’t even mind. Such a cutie!” she teased, and Matthew groaned at her. “Fine, fine, I’m off to work. Oh, and I was the one figuratively holding your hair last night when you were puking, so if you feel like buying me a coffee some time tomorrow while I’m at work that’d be fab,” she said over her shoulder as she left.

Matthew turned on his side in the tub, trying to fall asleep again, or at least willing the pain in his head to go away. He felt awful, but a tiny part of him was happy he’d acted like that when he was drunk, even if he couldn’t remember any of it. Drunken words were sober thoughts, after all, and seeing as Matthew’s thoughts had been all over the place, it seemed that the party had helped him decide.

~

Matthew sat at the back of the classroom, early for once, with Tom to his right and Kelly to his left. He would never admit it to either of them, but he had butterflies in his stomach at the thought of seeing Mister Howard for the first time in nearly a week.

Well, he’d caught glimpses of him in corridors, or perhaps through his office door if he’d been headed that way (or had wandered that way out of sheer curiosity and absolutely nothing to do with wanting to see the teacher, at all, whatsoever). But as Mister Howard entered the room, Matthew’s stomach did a flip. Kelly and Tom did nothing, Matthew having already threatened to cut off their balls (“but I’m a girl!” “still applies, Kels”) if they so much as thought about insinuating that something was going on between the pair.

“Afternoon everyone,” Mister Howard said, and Matthew bathed in the sound of his voice. He grimaced as he reminded himself, once again, that he was completely and utterly in the shit when it came to how hard he’d fallen for the teacher. “Today, we’re going to talk about pregnancy. How people get pregnant, contraception methods other than condoms and more generally preventing pregnancy.”

“He seems a lot more confident this week,” one of the girls on the other side of the classroom stage-whispered to her friend. Matthew tensed up, even though he had no need to. “Maybe he finally got laid.”

Mister Howard reacted immediately. “That’ll be more than you’ve had this week then, Rachel,” he quipped. The class went “ooh” in unison as Mister Howard made a circuit of the room, handing out worksheets. Matthew was treated exactly the same as the rest of the class, Dominic made sure of that.

“Right,” Dominic said, standing at the front of the class. He could see Matthew at the back, but was trying not to pay him any attention. It’d been a long week and he’d missed him terribly, but he wasn’t about to reveal that to the rest of his students, or risk anything by even trying to reveal that to Matthew. “I’m going to lay down some ground rules, now that we’re settling into this sex education programme well. Number one is that no one is to make remarks aboutanyone’s sexual activity, orientation, preferences et cetera from now on. Do I make myself clear?”

The class grumbled “yes sir”. Dominic smiled.

“This stuff you’re learning is so important. It could change your lives, so don’t muck around or I will be giving out punishments.” Dominic tried to ignore the way a certain one of his students flinched at that word, and was continuously avoiding eye contact. “Anyway. Onto the main part of the lesson--”

“You never said rule number two, sir,” Tom piped up. Matthew sniggered at his side. Dominic supposed the pair had a reputation to uphold, even if Matthew wasn’t being the antagonist this week.

“Thomas, if you keep interrupting me I’m sure you’ll find out soon enough,” Dominic said, before pointing to the diagram that he had projected onto the board. “So! Pregnancy. Someone tell me how it works.”

“Why doesn’t Matthew?” Tiffany said loudly, and Dominic’s insides froze solid. “I’m sure he’s got some bullshit idea to add.”

“Tiffany, out,” Dominic said. Matthew lifted his head from the desk, eyes wide.

“What?!” she screeched.

“I won’t tolerate language like that in my classroom, and I won’t tolerate you talking about another student like that,” Dominic said, holding his ground.

“But you said to Rachel that--”

_“I don’t care_ !” Dominic roared, and the class fell silent. “Get. Out.”

Frightened, Tiffany grabbed her still packed bag and nearly ran for the door. The class continued in perfect silence, and Dominic smiled when it was over and as the students filtered out. He was happy, because he had finally began to grip his class and find his voice. He thanked Matthew for that, he supposed.

Just that moment, the boy himself walked past. Matthew met his eyes for a couple of seconds as he went, but they revealed no secrets. Dominic’s heart sank in his chest, heavy with rejection. Maybe he’d been silly to agree to the break. Maybe it was a ridiculous plan of Matthew’s, to ditch Dominic after he’d gotten what he wanted.

Maybe Matthew didn’t like Dominic, as much as Dominic liked Matthew.


	6. Chapter 6

Dominic scanned the canteen from the entrance, eyes alighting on a shock of black hair in the middle of a group of friends. He sighed; of course he wouldn’t be alone. Dominic smoothed the envelope in his hands once or twice. He just hoped Matthew would buy it.

With confident-looking strides, he approached the table full of students, Matthew only looking up from his sandwich last moment. He swallowed before he’d chewed it properly.

“Matthew,” Dominic said, trying not to think of the way he’d moaned that name. Of course he thought of it. He cleared his throat. “You asked for your GCSE French marks breakdown a couple of weeks ago, right?” he said, keeping eye contact with the student. Matthew nodded slowly. “Here they are, for you,” he said, handing over the envelope. Quickly, Dominic turned away, relying on Matthew being as intelligent as Dominic knew he was to _not_ open that envelope in front of his friends.

Matthew stared at the envelope, one of the lads on the other side of the table egging him on to open it. Matthew glanced at Kelly and at Tom in turn. “Fuck no,” Matthew laughed, putting on an act, and the weird atmosphere that had come across the table dissipated. “I fucking bombed GCSE, I’m not opening this shit in front of you,” he continued, tucking the envelope safely away in his bag. They chatted about last week’s party (awesome, except for Matthew being sick a lot), their weekends (still good, even though a hungover Matthew had to buy Kelly a coffee while she was working her shift at a clothes shop), and how their Thursdays were currently going (slowly, very slowly).

As the bell rang, Matthew excused himself to the toilets, locking himself in a cubicle and rifling through his bag for the envelope. Anxiously, he tore it open to find nothing but a small handwritten note from Dominic, hoping that it was good news.

> _I’m ready to talk..._
> 
> _if you are._
> 
> _meet me by the welfare office just after the final bell._
> 
> _Dx_

Matthew’s heart did a flip in his chest and he grinned, tucking the note back into the envelope and putting them at the bottom of his bag. It was the first bit of good news he’d had this week. He was a bit confused as to why it was the welfare office, but he had a music lesson to get to and he wasn’t going to miss that for the world.

Music passed in a blur, Matthew practicing the love song that he’d finished a few days ago with Tom helping to mix the vocals. He left with a smile on his face, simply because he was proud of the music he had made and had had fun in the process. Nerves worked their way into his gut as he walked through school, his acoustic guitar slung in its case over one shoulder and his bag on the other. He headed towards the welfare office, having never really been that way before, except when he’d been placed in exclusion a few times in Year 10 before he got his act together.

Dominic was waiting outside the welfare office, and Matthew took a shaking breath in. The small area they were in was completely empty of all students, and teachers for that matter, save for themselves.

“Hello,” Matthew said, and Dominic’s tense expression seemed to melt a little. Silently, he gestured Matthew inside one of the small interview rooms next to the welfare office, used for pastoral care. Matthew arched an eyebrow but said nothing, putting his guitar down in the corner and allowing Dominic to pull the door shut behind them.

“I didn’t want to talk in my office,” Dominic said, taking a seat opposite Matthew, “after all we did there. And, I guess I wanted us to both be on equal footing,” he said, looking down at the table and  pressing the tips of his fingers together.

“Thanks,” Matthew said, looking up at Dominic’s face. He was painfully aware of the window in the door, and the fact that they might be overheard. “I’m ready to talk,” Matthew said, causing Dominic to look up and meet his eyes. “You made it sound like I didn’t want to?”

The accusation in Matthew’s words hurt. Dominic sighed, leaning back in his chair a little. “You... you gave me such a cold look on Monday, after sex-ed,” he began, and Matthew immediately looked down to his lap. “I just... got it into my head that you’d gotten over me, you’d had your fun and your fuck, and that you’d found someone else. And, if you have, I’m happy for you, Matt,” Dominic said, leaning forward again. “Matt?”

Matthew’s shoulders heaved with a single sob.

“Matthew?” Dominic asked, panic colouring his voice. Matthew looked up, then, and his eyes were red-rimmed, a tear slipping down his face.

“It’s my nan,” he sobbed, before rubbing at his eyes furiously with his wrists. “She’s been ill for so long, but...”

Dominic wished he was anything but Matthew’s teacher right then, so he could scoop him up and hug him and kiss him and tell him everything would be alright.

“I’m... I’m not sad about her being ill,” Matthew sniffed, Dominic passing the box of tissues that were on a shelf behind him. “Thanks,” Matthew said, blowing his nose. “I came to terms with that a long time ago. It’s just... she lives up in Scotland. We don’t have enough money to go see her, and Mum barely has enough money to fly up there, and that’s her own mother for fuck’s sake.”

“I wish I could help,” Dominic said sadly, and Matthew smiled.

“I found out that she was... deteriorating during lunch on Monday. That’s why I was so quiet and... just not myself. I’m sorry I gave you that lo--”

“Matt, no. I’m sorry I read into it, if only I’d known...” Dominic said, and they sat in a comfortable silence for a few seconds, Matthew wiping his eyes again.

“I never fucking cry,” Matthew laughed disbelievingly, Dominic smiling a small smile. “It’s just... she always looked after me when I was little, after Dad died.” Dominic’s face fell, but Matthew waved him off. “I was tiny, I barely remember him. But Nan helped raise me while Mum worked, but then she moved to Scotland, I haven’t seen her in so long, but... I... I know this might sound selfish, but I remember her as happy and healthy and... well, alive. I don’t really want to go visit her to see her... the way she is.”

Dominic nodded. “I know how that feels,” he said, his voice nearly breaking. Matthew tilted his head to the side ever so slightly. “Believe me, I know.”

Matthew let Dominic’s tone slide for a moment. “I just... so I’m mostly sad that she’ll be gone, and because Mum has been in bits all week, she can’t take time off work so she’s flying up Friday evening, will be back Sunday night. I’ve got the house to myself all weekend and I don’t know how I’m going to keep myself from worrying.”

“I could... come over, if you wanted?” Dominic said, and Matthew looked up from where he was destroying a tissue between his fingertips. “I mean, you know, just so you don’t go mad. It can just be as a friend, if you want.”

“I don’t want that,” Matthew replied quickly, before tipping the corners of his mouth up in what resembled a smile. “I want you as more than a friend, if you’ll have me,” Matthew said in a quiet voice, glancing down again before he looked up, watery blue eyes waiting for Dominic’s reaction.

“I’d be lucky to,” Dominic said with a lopsided smile, one spreading across Matthew’s face in return. Dominic looked towards the door. “I should get going, I have a tonne of coursework to mark before tomorrow,” he said, before standing up. “Are you sure you’re alright?” he asked Matthew, as the boy stood up and gathered his belongings.

“I’m fine,” Matthew said, smiling truly. “But if you tell anyone I cried, I’ll kill you while you sleep. Even if I do really l-like you,” he said with a smile on his face. Dominic laughed, opening the door and letting Matthew out of the room.

They walked together through the school, stopping briefly at Dominic’s office so he could pick up his briefcase. At the school gates, where they would part ways, Matthew pulled his homework diary out of his bag, tearing out the front page and handing it to Dominic.

“Matthew!” the teacher scorned, holding the scrunched piece of paper in his hands. “This is... don’t you need this?!”

Matthew snorted. “Please. I’m not a Year Nine, I don’t have homework diary inspections anymore,” Matthew said, rolling his eyes. “Tomorrow, about eightish. Bring comfort food.”

Turning away, Matthew began walking up the road, guitar slung on his shoulder. Dominic unscrunched the paper, seeing Matthew’s address printed in an elegant scrawl, his stomach full of butterflies.

~

Dominic stood in his local Tesco Express, judging how much he thought he knew Matthew as he stood in front of the Ben and Jerry’s section of the freezer. Would he want a fruity one, or was he a chocolate kind of guy? Was plain old Cookie Dough enough, or would he want something extravagant, like Karamel Sutra? Dominic smirked; he chose that one, knowing at least Matthew would appreciate the pun. Choosing a Dough-able Whammy for himself, he shut the freezer door and headed back through the shop, picking up an item he’d been deliberating on all day, before heading to the tills. The cashier gave him a knowing look as the three items were scanned, before Dominic was on his way to Matthew’s house.

Matthew’s house was similar to his own, in a quiet little terraced road near the school. The streetlights were just coming on as Dominic knocked on the door, nervously shifting from foot to foot. Soon enough the door opened, and Matthew stood there, barefoot, in skinny jeans and a black t-shirt.

“Hi,” Dominic said, Matthew’s eyes widening at the small bouquet of flowers in his hands. “Oh, um, these are for you,” Dominic said, handing them over. The flowers were in shades of yellow and orange, and Matthew blushed a deep red.

“I’ve never had flowers before,” Matthew said, sniffing them gingerly as he looked up at Dominic, rosy cheeks and all. “Thank you.”

Dominic stepped into the house, cautious of being seen on Matthew’s doorstep. “I thought, maybe you could say you bought them for your mum. You’ve got a good deal out of this,” he laughed, shutting the door behind him. Matthew turned, walking through into a small kitchen at the back of the house and to the empty vase on the windowsill, filling it up with water.

“I sometimes do buy flowers for her, actually,” Matthew said, turning and arching an eyebrow at Dominic. “Try not to be too surprised,” he continued coolly, shutting off the tap and putting the flowers in the vase, before putting it back on the windowsill. “I like the colours.”

“I’m pleased,” Dominic said. His first venture of buying flowers for someone special had turned out pretty well. “I also bought the comfort food you requested,” he laughed, pulling out the two tubs of ice cream. Dominic pushed one towards Matthew. “I didn’t know which flavour you like best, but I liked the name...” Matthew laughed loudly as he saw his, and Dominic was happy to see joy on his face, after seeing the tears on his cheeks yesterday. Finally, Dominic slid the small rucksack he’d packed off his shoulder. “I, um, also packed a bag, just in case you wanted me to stay tonight or something. Plus, you’re smaller than me and I don’t think I’d fit in any of your clot--”

Dominic was cut off as Matthew crossed the room and hugged him tight, wrapping his arms around his waist and pressing his head against his chest. With a smile, Dominic dropped the bag and wrapped his arms around Matthew’s shoulders, dropping a kiss into the mess of Matthew’s hair. “I missed you so much,” Matthew whispered, so quietly that Dominic almost didn’t hear it. Dominic shut his eyes and pressed his face into Matthew’s hair, inhaling deeply. “I needed you so much this week, but I...”

“It’s okay, shh,” Dominic murmured into Matthew’s hair, rubbing Matthew’s back reassuringly. He knew. He entirely understood, not only Matthew’s pain but Matthew’s need for others. Tonight wasn’t the night for his own story, though. He ran a hand through Matthew’s hair softly, before maneuvering his head so they were looking at each other. Matthew’s eyes were red again. “Hey,” Dominic said, and Matthew giggled a bit, before hiccuping. “We’re going to watch some film or the other, and we’re going to eat ice cream, and we’re going to stop worrying, at least for a little while. Yeah?”

Matthew nodded, Dominic stroking his cheekbone with his thumb. “Sounds good,” Matthew said. He broke away, moving across the kitchen. He threw a tea towel towards Dominic, who caught it deftly with his left hand, before pulling two spoons out of a drawer. “The tubs are cold,” he said to Dominic’s bewildered expression. “What?! I always use a tea-towel with a tub of ice cream, because it makes you all wet and--”

“Condensation.”

“That too,” Matthew said with a smile, picking up his tub of ice cream from the table. “Come on,” he said, leading Dominic through to the lounge, facing out onto the street. Matthew drew the curtains on the darkening scene, flicking on a lamp in the corner. “Make yourself at home,” he said to Dominic, gesturing at the sofa with a wide arm. “What film do you want to watch?”

“I’m happy with whatever you choose, as long as you choose something good,” Dominic said as he settled back into the cushions, Matthew laughing from where he was browsing a stack of DVDs.

“God, my mum has some shit,” Matthew giggled, poking through the stack. “I mean, look at this one,” he said, pulling out a DVD and waving it in Dominic’s direction. “She looks like she’s going to molest you in your sleep,” Matthew joked, obviously feeling a bit better. Dominic scowled.

“How dare you!” he argued in a light tone. “ _Amélie_ one of the best contemporary French films, if not of all time. _And_ it’s my favourite film ever. Have you ever seen it?”

Matthew wrinkled his nose at the word _French_ , answering Dominic’s question for him. “It’s such a good film, come on,” Dominic said, beckoning Matthew over. “I’m surprised I didn’t show it to your class, actually, when I had you for GCSE.”

Laughing, Matthew begrudgingly put the DVD in the player. “Probably because it involved reading,” he joked, before grabbing the remote and sitting next to Dominic on the sofa, reaching for his ice cream. “I could get used to this,” he said sincerely and almost reverently. Dominic looked at him, pressing a kiss into his hair as their sides were pressed together, warmth seeping through their thin t-shirts.

The film began, and almost as soon as Dominic had his ice cream open, Matthew was prodding him for a bite. “Watch the film,” Dominic hissed without any malice, as he fed a spoonful of ice cream to Matthew. The boy groaned, eyes meeting his teacher’s briefly before returning to the screen.

Ten minutes later, Matthew was sniffing at Dominic’s side. “Fucking films...” he whispered, Dominic wrapping an arm around him. “This is worse than Up! and that shit was fucking devastating,” Matthew tried to laugh. “The music is so good, bloody hell. I don’t even feel sad, I feel...”

Dominic squeezed Matthew a little as they continued to watch the girl on the screen stumble through her life and her relationships. The ice cream tubs, soon empty, were left on the coffee table as Matthew sprawled out over Dominic, legs entwined and chest pressed into the blond’s side. Having seen the film dozens of times before and also being able to understand the spoken dialogue, as opposed to having to read the subtitles, Dominic spent the film watching Matthew’s reactions, as he laughed and sniffled and cringed at the events passing on the screen.

Matthew was like a film in himself, Dominic found himself thinking. He was all of the characters, in all of the settings, with a plot so intricate that Dominic would want to watch it time and time again so he could understand him fully. He was his own narrator, his own soundtrack, his own audience. Dominic pressed a kiss into Matthew’s hair, then, inhaling deeply and surrounding himself with everything that was Matthew. Matthew himself didn’t notice, too engrossed in the film. Dominic smiled.

Matthew’s fingers played with the hem of Dominic’s grey t-shirt, the first casual thing Matthew had ever seen him in, as the film began to draw to a close.

“Why won’t she talk to him?” Matthew asked at one point, as the girl on screen continued to hide herself from the man who loved her, and the man she loved in return. “She’s been chasing him the whole film, he’s _right there_ ,” Matthew said, extending his hands towards the screen.

“She’s scared,” Dominic mumbled against Matthew’s cheek. “She’s so used to being lonely that she doesn’t quite know how to go about it.” Dominic said, the words ringing true for himself, too.

“She’s such a nice girl, too,” Matthew said, oblivious to the implication behind Dominic’s words.

The conversation filtered away as the final ten minutes began. “No. No, that’s not fair,” Matthew said. On screen, Amelie was sure she’d lost her lover, and was imagining domestic life with him. “That’s really sad,” Matthew said, sounding as if his throat was closing up as the girl began to cry. Dominic simply nodded. “You never said this had a sad ending,” Matthew said, turning to Dominic with tears in his eyes. “Prick,” he said, trying to laugh.

Dominic kissed the end of his nose. “It doesn’t, I’m not that mean. Keep watching,” he said, and Matthew did as he was told. The lover was at Amélie’s door, and she was overjoyed. “This is my favourite bit,” Dominic whispered into Matthew’s ear, as the two lovers finally embraced for the first time. Amelie kissed her lover’s face in three different places, before she invited him to do the same on her own face.

Matthew’s lips quirked up in a small smile as the rest of the scene began to play out, and the end of the film morphed into the credits. “Wow,” Matthew said, mouth hanging open in awe. “I think that film’s changed my life.”

Dominic beamed, biting his lip. “Yeah?” he said, trying to keep the excitement out of his voice. He couldn’t. Matthew turned to him.

“You’re such a dork,” Matthew said with a huge smile on his face, and Dominic blushed, still smiling. “No but... she’s so happy and... it was all about the little things. I guess... hmmm...”

“What is it,” Dominic asked. It was rare to see Matthew in such a pensive mood, Dominic wanted to exploit it all.

“Well, life can be beautiful, I guess,” Matthew said quietly, playing with Dominic’s fingers. “You have to make the most of every opportunity, and you have to make sure you make the people around you happy, as well as yourself,” he finished, looking up at Dominic for approval. Dominic nodded.

“You have to treasure those around you, because you never quite know when they’ll be gone,” Dominic said. Matthew’s smile faded a little.

“I should call my mum,” he said. Dominic smiled sadly and nodded. “She will have landed by now I think.”

Matthew slid off the sofa and padded into the kitchen, Dominic staying put where he was. He allowed the title music to play over and over, the soundtrack being one of the many things that made him fall in love with this film. He could hear Matthew talking lowly in the other room, but tried his hardest not to listen.

After a few short minutes, Matthew came back into the room. Dominic silently opened his arms wide and Matthew giggled briefly, before slowly easing himself into Dominic’s lap, allowing himself to be cradled. “How’s tricks?” Dominic asked. Matthew smiled into the crook of his neck.

“That’s such an old man phrase,” Matthew mumbled, and Dominic laughed, the sound reverberating against Matthew’s lips. “Okay.”

“Just okay?”

“Just okay,” Matthew confirmed, nodding a little. “Mum’s there. That’s all that matters, really. That Nan isn’t alone.”

“Your mum isn’t alone either, if you think about it,” Dominic said, rocking Matthew gently. “Neither are you,” he said, Matthew’s face emerging from his neck. “I’m here,” Dominic offered with a smile.

Matthew laughed, shaking his head a little. “I just... I just can’t believe you want to be with me, of all people,” he said, pressing a long finger to Dominic’s lips when he opened his mouth to talk. “The only thing that was holding you back was your confidence and lack of getting some, but you’ve got all that now, you could go out and get anyone. Why me?”

Matthew let his finger fall, and Dominic smiled. He shifted Matthew in his lap, so Matthew was sitting across his thighs, and Dominic leaned forward. He pressed a soft kiss to the corner of Matthew’s mouth, pulling back before Matthew could turn to meet it. Unable to wipe the knowing smile from his face, the teacher leant forward again, kissing the side of Matthew’s neck, before dragging his nose along Matthew’s cheek until they were face to face once more. Finally, Dominic pressed his lips to Matthew’s right eyelid, and Dominic revelled in the quiet sigh that Matthew emitted.

Matthew’s eyes flickered open again as Dominic pulled back a little, the ends of their noses touching as they breathed the same air. Heart already racing in his chest from the layers of meaning beneath Dominic’s gesture, Matthew pressed the first kiss to the corner of Dominic’s smiling mouth. Resisting the urge to roll his eyes at Dominic’s dorkiness (and, deep down, how much he adored it), Matthew moved his head, kissing the side of Dominic’s neck. The tip of his nose traced Dominic’s jawline, taking a different route to the one Dominic had, and then up over his lips, up the line of his nose to his forehead, as Matthew pressed the final kiss against Dominic’s eyelid.

Pulling back, Matthew watched Dominic’s eyes open, as if he’d just woken from a dream. He blinked and grinned, and Matthew found himself smiling in return.

“You’ve wanted to do that for a long time,” Matthew mumbled, not quite a question, with pride welling in his chest.

“Lucky that I can say it was with you.”

Dominic pulled him close for a long kiss, their first of the night. Matthew’s eyes fell shut, and a sudden yet not unwelcome feeling of  _home_  descended upon him. Dominic’s hands fell to his waist, thumbs stroking Matthew’s over his t-shirt.

“I want you,” Dominic began, whispering into Matthew’s ear, “because you are one of the most extraordinary human beings I have ever met,” he murmured, listening to Matthew’s soft breathing in his own ear and enjoying the feeling of Matthew’s barely-there stubble against his own cheek. Dominic’s hand moved to rest gently against Matthew’s chest, and he could feel the thrum of Matthew’s heart through his fingertips.

“To be honest,” Dominic said after a short pause, both men aware of the elevated pace of Matthew’s heart, “the fact that you have become so important to me in such a short space of time is absolutely terrifying,” he continued in a low murmur, and Matthew hummed a laugh. Dominic’s free hand reached for one of Matthew’s, before placing it against his own chest. “I think you can tell,” he said, feeling his heart now pounding under Matthew’s soft touch.

Matthew, for the first time in his life, had been well and truly stunned into silence. Sentiments and emotions weaved around his mind and his tongue but he couldn’t translate them into words or even syllables. With the beat of Dominic’s heart as a metronome, Matthew turned his cheek against Dominic’s cheek, pressing a chaste kiss against his tanned skin and letting his eyes fall shut.

“I want this moment to last forever.”

And with that, Dominic had stolen the words from his mouth and the very breath from his lungs. There was only one thing Matthew found himself capable of saying. “Me too,” he breathed, and Dominic turned his head, capturing Matthew’s smiling lips in a kiss. Matthew shifted in Dominic’s lap, straddling him and pressing every inch of his chest against the blond’s, taking Dominic’s hands and holding them, pressing them into the back of the sofa as he leaned into the kiss. Soft moans rang out around the room to the quiet background music of the DVD menu, something Matthew would always associate with Dominic; the charm of the accordion, the beauty in the melody, the curve of his bottom lip as he kissed it gently.

Matthew broke the kiss, resting his forehead against Dominic’s as they caught their breath quietly, looking into each other’s eyes and trying to read everything there. “I need you,” Matthew found himself saying, releasing Dominic’s hands and letting them fall back to his sides. Matthew ran his hands through Dominic’s hair, eyes falling shut as he tipped his head forward again. “I need you so much,” he whispered into another kiss, as slow as Dominic’s hands lazily drifting up and down Matthew’s sides. Dominic opened his mouth after what had seemed like an eternity of closed-mouth kissing, and a full shudder ran through Matthew’s body as their tongues met briefly, before Dominic broke away.

“Should we perhaps...” Dominic suggested in a low, gravelly tone that made Matthew’s stomach flip. Matthew nodded, perhaps a bit too enthusiastically as Dominic laughed lowly, a broad smile on his face that Matthew never wanted to see fade. “I’m just going to grab my bag,” Dominic said, padding off into the kitchen after Matthew had eased himself off his lap. Adjusting his boner in his too-tight jeans, Matthew switched off the DVD player and television, putting the ice cream tubs in the kitchen bin. It wasn’t like Matthew popped a boner at every opportunity - he had plenty of sexual experience so that he wasn’t normally so affected by kissing - it was just that Dominic seemed to be a type of aphrodisiac that was completely new to him.

Matthew grinned at Dominic, who was waiting politely at the bottom of the stairs with his black rucksack clutched in his hand. “Come on,” Matthew said, gently taking Dominic’s free hand and guiding him up the stairs, unaware of the beaming smile that had burst across his teacher’s face at the gesture. “This is me,” he said as they reached the darkened landing, Matthew pulling Dominic into the bedroom that overlooked the street. Matthew dropped his hand and scrambled through the darkness before a light illuminated and Matthew’s room was presented to him.

The walls were cream, covered in posters; some of the images Dominic was familiar with, like the artwork for Rage Against the Machine’s eponymous album and that of Uma Thurman’s Pulp Fiction character reclining on a bed with a cigarette. An acoustic guitar was propped up on Matthew’s desk chair, with a bright red electric hanging from a bracket on the wall.

The most interesting thing in the room, though, was Matthew himself, sat in the middle of his double bed, pressed up into the corner of his room. He looked up from fiddling with the dark blue sheets to smile at Dominic sheepishly, awaiting his approval, or perhaps his judgement.

Dominic dropped the bag and turned to shut the door behind him, realising that on the back of said door was a large poster of Lady Gaga in a somewhat risqué pose. “Nice,” Dominic said with a little laugh, turning to look at Matthew’s blush. “I love her.”

Matthew shrugged. “She’s hot,” he said nonchalantly, but a smirk tugged at his lips.

_Tease_ , Dominic thought. “You’re hotter,” he shot back, before crossing the little room and crawling onto Matthew’s bed, kissing Matthew with a newfound reverence, with a newfound respect. He fully knew that opening the doors of his own teenage bedroom to guests had been something hard to do; he couldn’t comprehend how Matthew had felt to show his most intimate environment to not only someone older than him, but to someone he was in quite deep with too. Dominic gently laid Matthew down on the bed, lying down the full length of his student as they kissed with long, slow strokes of their tongues.

Dominic propped himself up on his arms so he could look down on Matthew, cheeks flushed and eyes bright. Dominic rolled his hips down against Matthew’s as he studied the student’s reactions, Matthew biting his lip and rolling his eyes. “Dom,” he moaned quietly, before looking back up at Dominic, sliding his hands up Dominic’s arms. “You’re wearing far too many clothes,” he said with a smirk. Dominic rolled his eyes, ducking his head down to whisper in Matthew’s ear.

“Sit back down where you belong,” Dominic murmured, pulling back slightly to watch the confusion wash over Matthew’s face, realisation following in its wake. Matthew smiled, one that grew from one corner of his mouth before spreading across his entire face.

Dominic hadn’t expected what happened next, though.

“Sit back down on the... bed,” Matthew half sang, half giggled, Dominic turning to look at him in awe. “Where we made love the first time and you said to m--”

Dominic cut him off by pressing their mouths together, and Matthew moaned into the kiss, raising his head to beg for more but only resulting in being pushed back down into the mattress by Dominic. It wasn’t forceful, but it let Matthew know that Dominic wanted to lead, for perhaps the first of their encounters. Matthew tucked his hands behind his head, still unable to help the flash of a smirk that passed across his lips.

Dominic sat between Matthews spread legs, leaning forward to press a kiss just below Matthew’s belly button, where his t-shirt had ridden up and the start of his happy trail was visible. Pushing Matthew’s t-shirt slowly up his chest, Dominic continued to kiss various patches of skin as he pleased, with Matthew whimpering, giggling or simply silently admiring his teacher’s progress up his torso. Finally, Matthew’s t-shirt was bunched up around Matthew’s armpits, and Dominic helped him to remove the top and launch it on a trajectory towards the rest of the room.

Dominic sat up on his heels as Matthew put his arms behind his head again, tanned fingers spreading out and exploring pale flesh. “I remember what you said, that first time,” Dominic murmured lowly, index finger tracing the dents between Matthew’s abs, the kind you get from being a naturally skinny runt like the boy below him was. “You said you wanted me to take you home and lay you out pretty,” Dominic said, trying to mimic Matthew’s voice. Matthew laughed. “Well, here you are.”

“Here I am,” Matthew echoed quietly. Their eyes met, their connected gaze saying more about their current predicament than borrowed lyrics or loaded sentences ever could. Dominic’s hands roamed Matthew’s chest, one playing with his left nipple while the other slid downwards, teasing the skin just above the band of Matthew’s jeans. The boy whined with need and Dominic drowned himself in the sound, his own erection becoming uncomfortable in his jeans.

“You turn me on so much,” Dominic murmured, kissing the spot above the button of Matthew’s jeans before sitting up, pulling his t-shirt off in one swift motion and throwing it across the room. He lowered himself back onto Matthew again, enjoying the feeling of bare skin sliding against his own and then the sensation of his tongue sliding into Matthew’s mouth again, the warm, wet heat welcoming him home once more.

Matthew freed his hands from where they had been trapped behind his head, unable to refuse touching the soft, golden expanse of Dominic’s back. His fingers caressed the nubs of Dominic’s spine like he would caress the strings of his guitar, and the muscles danced under his touch. Dominic kissed along his jaw and down his neck, Matthew’s breath speeding up as Dominic continued down his body, hands reaching for the button of Matthew’s jeans. The heel of Dominic’s left palm brushed across Matthew’s erection; purposefully or not, Matthew bit his lip and groaned, pressing his head back into the pillows. “I need you,” he whispered into the static electricity of the silence around them, and Dominic smiled up at him from where he was unfastening Matthew’s jeans, the smile soon sliding into a smirk as he noticed Matthew wasn't wearing underwear.

“Can’t say I’m surprised,” Dominic murmured in a low voice, exhaling just above Matthew’s cock and delighting in the way it twitched at the stimulus. He sat up again, tugging Matthew’s jeans off completely and leaving the boy below him naked and waiting. “Look at you,” Dominic said, as he sat back on his heels, sounding as if he was going to continue but simply pausing to look. Matthew stared at him with heavy eyes, tracing the movement of Dominic’s left hand to his fly, unbuttoning his jeans and slipping his hand inside. Dominic’s breathing hitched, laying his right hand on Matthew’s thigh and sliding it upwards as he touched himself. Matthew’s fingers twitched into the bedsheets.

“You make me feel like a teenager again,” Dominic admitted with a low laugh, and Matthew grinned at the sound of it. Dominic stood up from the bed, pushing his skinny jeans down his legs and onto the floor, his boxers following suit. He put a knee back onto the bed again, crawling along the length of it to lay flush against Matthew’s body, kissing his lips softly.

“Is that a good thing?” Matthew said after a moment, rolling his hips up into Dominic’s, their cocks trapped between their bodies. The friction caused Dominic to moan into Matthew’s mouth, unable to resist another kiss. Matthew drew his legs up so his feet were flat against the bed, pinning Dominic’s hips between his thighs. Dominic broke for air, gasping, rolling his hips hard against Matthew’s. The boy whined.

“Yes,” Dominic whispered against Matthew’s cheek, before moving to nibble lightly on the shell of his ear. “You make me want to make slow love to you all weekend,” Dominic said. Matthew giggled.

“Make love?” he asked with an arched eyebrow and a smirk, but eyes that said it all. “I’d rather you fuck me nice and hard instead.”

“ _Je fais l’amour parce que je suis amoureux de toi_ ,” Dominic mumbled into Matthew’s ear, tracing his nose along Matthew’s sharp cheekbone before pulling back, looking at him. Matthew had gasped as he’d said it, and was now looking up at Dominic with wonder in his eyes.

“Say it again?” the student whispered. It wasn’t a command, it was a request. Dominic smiled, pecking Matthew’s lips as he rolled his hips. Matthew slowly wrapped one leg around Dominic’s waist.

“ _Je fais l’amour_ ,” Dominic said slowly, his low French accent making Matthew bite his lip, “ _parce que je suis amoureux de toi_ ,” he said, Matthew wrapping his second leg around Dominic’s waist as they kissed again, deeply and messily. Matthew wound his fingers through Dominic’s hair, moaning loudly as Dominic’s hips continued to press him down into the bed, his cock already straining for release. More than that, though, Matthew found himself waiting to be filled, wanting Dominic to be inside him more than his own orgasm. The intimacy of it all, especially compared to the first time Dominic fucked him, was making his head spin.

“I need you,” Matthew panted, turning his head away from Dominic’s mouth, now hungrily kissing his cheek and down onto his neck. “ _Dominic_ ,” Matthew groaned loudly as Dominic sucked on his neck, not hard enough to leave a bruise but enough to keep Matthew’s heart racing. “I need you inside me,  _please_ ,” Matthew begged. Dominic was either ignoring Matthew’s begging and trying to encourage him more, or was simply preoccupied with the alabaster collarbone under his lips at that moment. Sighing airily, Matthew shuffled and reached to his bedside table, opening the drawer and pulling out a packet of condoms and a bottle of lube. “Dom,” Matthew gasped out, the blond abandoning Matthew’s skin in favour of grabbing the bottle of lube, sitting up and kneeling between Matthew’s spread legs.

Matthew’s chest was flushed a lovely shade of red that spread up into his cheeks, with his black hair fanned out across the pillow and his mouth open as he panted. Dominic couldn’t help touching himself at the sight, and Matthew simply made a sound, a hybrid between a moan and a needy whine. Sniggering, Dominic popped the cap of the lube and squirted some onto the fingers of his left hand. An idea crossed his mind, and with a smirk he squeezed a blob of it onto Matthew’s cock as it rested heavily against his hip. Matthew hissed at the cool liquid against his burning skin, but one look from Dominic stopped him from touching himself to right the sensation.

Throwing the bottle aside, Dominic pushed Matthew’s left leg back towards his torso a little, before finally allowing himself to touch Matthew’s cock. The boy yelped and his legs twitched at the sensation, as Dominic smeared the blob of lube along the length of his dick, before briefly rolling Matthew’s balls between his fingers. Satisfied, Dominic lined his index finger up with Matthew’s entrance and eased it in.

Matthew sighed loudly, not with despair but with relief. “Fuck,” he breathed heavily, and Dominic grinned

“I missed your...  _vocality_  this last week,” Dominic said, and Matthew met his gaze. “Having a wank wasn’t quite the same without you swearing in my ear,” he said, just as he curled his finger upwards into Matthew’s prostate.

“Ohhh  _fuck_  me,” Matthew moaned, gripping at the bedsheets below him, the muscles in his forearm dancing below his tattoo. “That’s a.... glorious image,” he choked out, as Dominic added a second finger. Dominic laughed lowly, holding Matthew’s left knee steady as he pistoned his fingers in and out of Matthew, making sure to stretch him well. “Dom, please. Now.”

“Are you sure?” Dominic asked in a cautioning tone. Matthew nodded, already turning to tear one condom packet away from its pair and throwing it down the bed towards Dominic. The teacher couldn’t help but laugh. “I take it you missed me this week, too.”

“You have no idea,” Matthew said in a low tone, an undercurrent of sincerity making the hairs on Dominic’s arms stand on end. Quickly opening the packet, Dominic rolled the condom over his erection, moaning quietly as he did so. He added an extra bit of lube, slicking it over his cock before shuffling forward on the bed, pressing the head of his cock against Matthew’s entrance. Matthew wrapped one leg around Dominic’s waist once more, pressing his heel into the small of Dominic’s back in encouragement.

WIthout a word, Dominic pressed into Matthew, his breath catching in his throat as Matthew cried out. Matthew was tighter than last time; Dominic hadn’t stretched him fully, and the feeling of Matthew pressing in on his cock from all sides was entirely consuming. Dominic was brought back into the present as he slid forward further, and Matthew whimpered loudly.

“Are you okay?” Dominic rushed to say, terrified he was hurting Matthew.

The boy nodded. “I’m fine,” he squeaked, and it was so Matthew that Dominic wanted to roll his eyes. With his brave face on, Matthew watched with hungry eyes as Dominic slid in fully, dipping his torso so they were touching from collarbones to where they were joined.

Matthew raised his head, Dominic responding to his silent request with a ravenous kiss. He propped himself up again as he slowly drew his hips back before pushing back in, creating a rhythm so tantalisingly slow that Matthew clawed at Dominic’s back in need of more. Dominic teased Matthew, at one point raising his hips so much that Matthew feared he would pull out entirely, before Dominic quickly thrust back in and made Matthew scream his name.

“You feel.... s-so good,” Matthew said as Dominic increased the pace, stopping briefly so he could ease one of Matthew’s legs over his shoulder, the student shuddering as Dominic’s cock eased even deeper in the new position. “Jesus fucking Christ,” Matthew said, running his hands over his face, then through his hair, then down his chest. “I feel drunk,” he laughed. “I feel absolutely alive.”

“More importantly,” Dominic began, reaching to tug Matthew’s cock once before holding his hips again, “are you feeling athletic?”

Matthew blinked up at him, far too aroused to be answering questions “I--”

“Trust me,” Dominic said. Still buried deep inside of Matthew, he began to kneel so his weight was on his knees, raising Matthew’s hips as he went and easing Matthew’s legs around his waist. “Like that,” he said as Matthew hooked his feet in the small of his back. “Your weight on your shoulder blades. You good?”

“Where’d you get this idea, Cosm--oh fuck _me!_ ” Matthew shouted as Dominic picked up a savage pace, Matthew spreading his arms on the bed as to try to keep himself stable. The sound of their skin slapping together rang out in the room, and Matthew groaned. The thought of Dominic fucking him this hard was erotic enough, let alone the fact that Dominic was  _actually doing it_ .

“Touch yourself,” Dominic murmured, his hands too busy holding Matthew’s hips up to do the honours himself. Matthew was quick to respond, eagerly taking his cock in hand in the familiar manner they were both used to.

“I’m c-close, Dom,” Matthew mumbled, tugging himself with firm, sure strokes, the head of his cock gliding in and out of his fist smoothly. Dominic slowed the pace ever so slightly in order to ensure every single stroke was going as deep as it could. Matthew cried out with every thrust, each time getting louder and louder until he moaned Dominic’s name, coming hard all up his chest, pumping his cock until he had milked himself for all he was worth.

The feeling of Matthew’s muscles clenching around him was too much, and Dominic’s orgasm rippled through him. He rode it out with a loud “fuck!” as he dipped his head to watch his cock continue to slide in and out of Matthew’s arse. He slowly eased to a stop, before pulling out and guiding Matthew’s hips back down onto the bed.

“Wow,” Matthew said, before he laughed a bark of laughter which soon morphed into a string of giggles. Dominic simply shook his head and smiled, pulling the condom off his softening cock and knotting it. He stood up, feeling like Bambi on ice as he crossed Matthew’s room on shaky legs, dropping the condom into the bin before climbing back onto the bed and diving beneath the covers on the side Matthew wasn’t occupying. “Cheeky,” Matthew said, reaching for the box of tissues on his nightstand and wiping the come off his chest, throwing the balls of paper in the direction of the bin but not quite making it. Sufficiently clean, he squirmed and shuffled under his duvet, rolling onto his side so he was face to face with Dominic.

“Hi,” Dominic said.

Matthew giggled. “Hello,” he said. Dominic moved forward a little, and they kissed lazily, eyes fluttering shut. Reaching out, Matthew stroked the side of Dominic’s face tenderly, before they parted and smiled bashfully at each other.

“Where the fuck did that come from?” Matthew said, his harsh words softened with his quiet tone and the fingers touching Dominic’s cheek. “I mean... I thought you said you were going to make sweet, sweet love to me.”

Dominic snorted. “I guess I got carried away,” he said. Matthew smirked.

“I tend to have that effect on people,” he said with a smug grin, and Dominic poked him in the ribs. “ _Ow_ , prick,” Matthew whined as Dominic giggled. “And the French... not a fucking clue. Really hot though, do it more often.  _Owww_ , fucking stop!” Matthew said, reduced to giggles as Dominic’s prods became light tickling. “N-oh-oh-oh ssstop! Dom!”

Relenting, Dominic rested his hand on Matthew’s hip, inching closer in the bed and kissing him again briefly. “I’m not telling you what I said,” Dominic smiled into the kiss, and Matthew made a whining sound that made them both laugh.

“Tease,” Matthew hissed, pulling Dominic’s chin closer with slender fingers and kissing him deeply. Dominic broke for air a few seconds later.

“Wait, isn’t it bed time?” he asked, visually searching for the clock on Matthew’s bedside table.

Matthew kissed his neck. “We’re already in bed,” he mumbled against Dominic’s skin, the tangy taste of dried sweat on his tongue.

“It’s gone midnight,” Dominic laughed, dropping a kiss into Matthew’s hair. The boy leaned back, grinning up at him.

“Time for another round?” he asked excitedly. Dominic tutted, instead pulling the covers back and climbing out of bed. “Wait, what did I do? ...Dom?” he asked nervously, as Dominic padded towards his bag.

“You left this at mine last week,” Dominic said, pulling out the bottle of massage oil that had indeed gone unused. “I figured I should return it to its rightful owner,” he said with a smile, placing it on Matthew’s bedside table before clambering back under the warm covers.

“Do you want me to give you a massage?” Matthew asked, an eager tone to his voice as his fingers splayed on Dominic’s chest.

“Have you ever given one before?” Dominic asked, a smirk forming on his lips.

Matthew’s face fell a little. “No. But I’m willing to give it a go,” he suggested, raising his eyebrows once. Dominic laughed, sitting up and reaching for the bottle.

“Lie on your front,” Dominic said, and if the command had been given in a lower tone, Matthew would’ve shivered with want. But, already spent, he simply rolled onto his stomach and turned his face to the side.

“Hang on, who says  _you_  have any experience?” Matthew asked as Dominic straddled his thighs. Dominic remained silent, simply slicking up his hands and placing the bottle back on the table. He started with gently rubbing down Matthew’s whole back, before working on his shoulders.

Matthew moaned loudly as Dominic worked on a particularly tense spot. “Fuck me,” he said, exasperated. Dominic laughed. “Where the fuck did you learn this?”

“Uni,” Dominic said with a shrug. “Did a course in it, kind of started out just giving flatmates massages and it went from there. Just a spare bit of cash on the side. And it helped that I didn’t get hard every time I touched a girl,” he remarked.

Matthew giggled. “Yet when you’re with me, it’s a completely diff-- oh god  _right there_ ,” Matthew groaned. “I’m gonna get hard again if you keep doing that. Just thinking about those magic fingers...”

Matthew’s voice trailed off as Dominic worked, keeping focussed on the task. He’d slowly began working down Matthew’s spine when, a few minutes later, he heard the shift in Matthew’s breathing. He smiled to himself, peering over Matthew’s shoulder to see the boy’s eyes closed and mouth open as he slept. Dominic realised how adorable Matthew looked like that, and that the feeling in his chest meant that he had fallen so very, very hard for his student.

Wiping the excess oil off his hands onto his own thighs, he carefully climbed off Matthew and back down beside him in the bed, pulling the covers up over them both. Matthew stirred, blinking one eye open as he gurgled awake. “Did I fall asleep?” he asked quite needlessly. Dominic laughed, pulling the boy’s hips towards his own and cuddling him tight, Matthew becoming the little spoon.

“ _Bonne nuit_ ,” Dominic said as Matthew dopily reached out to shut off the bedside lamp, plunging them both into darkness. Dominic didn’t see the huge smile bloom across Matthew’s face as the arms around his waist tightened.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> song in this chapter is my own, don't steal it ta

Sunlight poured through the open curtains and Dominic blinked awake, aware that he wasn’t in his own bed. When he realised that he had one arm thrown over a softly snoring Matthew, he smiled to himself, deciding that he could be in worse places.

Matthew stirred in his sleep, stretching a little and a smile spreading across his face when he realised that Dominic was in his bed. “Mornin’,” he mumbled, Dominic brushing his hair out of his blue eyes. 

“ _Bonjour_ ,” Dominic murmured in return, gently kissing the end of Matthew’s nose. Matthew wrinkled it up.

“You and your French,” he said dismissively, but a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. He turned onto his side, facing Dominic and pulling the duvet up from where it had slipped during the night.

“Funny story,” Dominic said, propping himself up on one elbow. “I spent a few summers in France during my degree so I could finish it without spending a year abroad, and sometimes when I woke up in the morning I would forget how to speak English.”

Matthew snorted. “Yeah,” he said, rolling onto his back. “I can picture you waking up next to some French bastard, muttering a little ‘bonjoor’ or ‘voulay vous coucher avec moi’.”

Dominic slapped Matthew’s arm lightly but they both giggled at the utter ridiculousness of the thought. “No,” Dominic said, leaning over to kiss Matthew’s thin lips with a closed mouth. “Lucky to say you’re the only man I’ve ever woken up beside.”

Matthew smiled into the kiss, one hand moving to gently touch Dominic’s back as he leaned over, fingers caressing the smooth skin there. “You should try harder. Go broaden your horizons a bit,” he quipped.

“Nah,” Dominic said, shifting so he lay between Matthew’s spread legs, feeling the erection against his own. “I quite like it here if I’m honest,” he said in a low voice, kissing Matthew again.

“Do you?” Matthew gasped as they parted a few moments later, the sarcasm in his voice nearly lost as Dominic rolled his hips slightly.

“Yeah,” Dominic breathed into a kiss, before pulling away, climbing up Matthew’s body to sit astride his hips, his erection trapped under him. “But I prefer it here.”

“Oh,” Matthew whispered, running his hands up Dominic’s thighs to rest on his hips, which Dominic rolled at once, Matthew’s head falling back into the pillows and his eyes falling shut. “Dom,” he breathed, as if he was saying a prayer.

Dominic reached to the bedside table for lube and condoms, leaving the latter at his side on the bed as he coated the fingers of his left hand with lube. Matthew watched, open mouthed, as Dominic’s hand disappeared behind him, seconds later his eyes fluttering shut as he sighed.

“You look filthy,” Matthew whispered, any degradation meant with the words completely nulled by the tone of his voice, light and full of reverence. He reached for Dominic’s cock, smearing precome on his alabaster chest, and grey eyes shot open to look at him.

Matthew’s dark hair was spread on the pale blue pillowcase, a slow smile blooming across his face with that crooked tooth standing proud. Dominic drove his fingers deeper inside of himself and his thighs clenched around Matthew’s hips when he brushed against his prostate. The fingers of Matthew’s left hand curled protectively on Dominic’s hip as the others curled tightly on his cock, tugging in time with the motions of Dominic’s hand.

“Matthew,” Dominic whined, shifting his weight so his supporting hand was against Matthew’s chest, palm spread across his heart. “I need you _inside_ me,” he moaned. He withdrew his fingers, kneeling up on shaking legs so Matthew could hurriedly roll a condom onto his cock.

Dominic leaned down, pressing his face into the crook of Matthew’s neck and inhaling there, Matthew’s breath catching in his throat as he stroked himself to full hardness, which hardly took long with Dominic spread along the length of him.

Blindly, Matthew tried to align his cock with Dominic’s entrance. Pressing a kiss to Matthew’s neck, Dominic sat up once more, reaching behind himself for his fingers to join Matthew’s on his cock. They worked together until the head was nudging against Dominic’s entrance, and the blond bit his lip in anticipation, letting his hands fall to brace himself against Matthew.

“Ready?” Matthew asked quietly. Dominic nodded, lowering himself just so that the head of Matthew’s cock entered him.

“Stay just like that,” Dominic said quickly, Matthew biting his lip at the sensation of only just being inside Dominic, at the feeling of Dominic’s muscles desperately trying to keep him inside. “I love this bit,” Dominic said lowly, a husk in his voice that made Matthew’s toes curl. “The... the _promise_ of what’s yet to come.”

“Me, if you keep talking like that,” Matthew said with a short giggle, choking on it when Dominic sank down a bit further, thighs trembling with the strain.

“Poetic,” Dominic drawled in the response the two of them have become fond of, slowly lowering himself onto Matthew until his cock was fully sheathed. “I think I like being on top, actually, like this.”

“I think I like it too,” Matthew smiled, rolling his hips upward, gripping Dominic’s. The blond’s eyes rolled into the back of his head slightly. “For someone with no experience, you’re quite the natural.”

“Mmmm,” Dominic agreed, hands tracing up his body lightly, fingers circling his nipples as he arched his back, knowing full well that Matthew was watching with hungry eyes. “Maybe I was born to ride your cock.”

The way Dominic drawled the word cock was utterly obscene, and made Matthew’s fingers tighten on Dominic’s hips. “Get to work, then,” Matthew said, pulling one leg up on the bed so his foot was flat against it, giving him leverage.

Dominic grinned, placing his hands flat against Matthew’s chest and rolling his hips forward once, fast enough to bring about a reaction from Matthew but slowly enough to tease. Matthew raised his eyebrows slightly in challenge and Dominic picked up a pace that soon had Matthew pressing his head back hard into the pillows. As he gauged the rhythm and began to thrust upward to meet Dominic’s movements, Dominic tipped his head back and moaned deeply.

“Matthew, _right_ there, Christ,” Dominic ground out, head falling forward. His chest was dappled with sweat, and an idea flashed across Matthew’s mind.

“Hold on,” he said to Dominic, who reluctantly stopped rocking his hips. Matthew sat up, seizing the opportunity to reach up for a kiss, Dominic ducking his head to do so. “Shift, just... yeah, this way,” Matthew said, guiding them so Matthew’s back was against the wall his bed was pressed up against, Dominic’s chest slick with sweat against his own.

“This okay?” Matthew asked. Dominic replied by rolling his hips.

Matthew hungrily met Dominic for a kiss, the rocking of his hips speeding up to the point that it became erratic. Dominic’s fingers dug into the tops of Matthew’s shoulders, Matthew’s hands firmly cupping Dominic’s arse. “Dom, I’m...”

“ _There_ , Matt, Matthew, God I’m--”

Dominic’s forehead fell against Matthew’s collarbone as he came, hot and sticky between their bodies. The feeling of Dominic’s muscles tightening around him was too much and Matthew’s own orgasm followed, whispering Dominic’s name over and over into his ear.

After a moment or two of pause, Dominic straightened up a little, brushing Matthew’s damp fringe out of his eyes. “I really like being on top,” he said, laughing as Matthew giggled. 

“I noticed,” Matthew said, pulling Dominic’s chin closer with two fingers. They shared a sweet kiss, tangy from the sweat on their lips. “I think we should shower.”

“I think that’s a great idea,” Dominic replied in kind, extricating himself from Matthew’s embrace with some difficulty. On shaking legs he stood, offering a hand to Matthew to pull him up off the bed. Matthew knotted the condom with a practiced ease, throwing it in the bin as he patted Dominic’s bum in the direction of the door. 

Matthew stepped around Dominic, leading them across the landing into the bathroom. Dominic perused the room with interest; the mixture of Matthew’s teenage boy products and his mother’s was quite bizarre indeed.

“We have to wait for the water to warm up a bit,” Matthew said after switching the shower on, sitting down on the closed toilet lid. Dominic looked out of the mottled glass of the window to the shades of blue and green beyond.

“It looks like it’s going to be a nice day,” Dominic said, Matthew humming non-committedly in agreement. “What?”

“That’s such a British thing to do,” Matthew said with a laugh, sitting up a little. “Talk about the weather when there’s nothing else to talk about.”

“What do you want me to talk about?” Dominic asked, crossing his arms against his chest. “How great your cock feels inside me?”

Matthew snorted and Dominic dropped his affronted act. Matthew stood up, stepping forward into Dominic’s now spread arms. The teacher embraced his student, in his sudden need for being held. “I meant, it looks like it’s going to be a nice day, it’s a shame we can’t go out together and make the most of it.”

Matthew remained silent, the sound of water hitting the floor of the shower filling the room in the absence of his reply. He moved his head from where his cheek was pressed against Dominic’s chest to look up at him. “Let’s move far away. Let’s move to, I don’t know, fucking Scotland or something, to some place in the highlands, or maybe Wales. Get a little dog, take it for walks in the country.”

Dominic smiled fondly, kissing Matthew’s forehead. “Let’s shower first,” he said, trying to avoid Matthew’s loaded question. “Is the water warm?”

Matthew stepped out of the embrace, reaching into the little cubicle. “Yep.”

“Will we both fit in there?” Dominic asked, Matthew turning to smirk at him.

“Might be a bit tight,” he said, sliding the door open and stepping in. “But you’re used to that by now, surely.”

“You’re ridiculous,” Dominic said with a roll of his eyes, stepping into the little cubicle and shutting the door behind him. Matthew, already under the spray, flicked his sopping hair out of his eyes to grin up at Dominic. “Turn around. I need to wash that massage oil off your back.”

“Was wondering why I was sticking to the sheets earlier,” Matthew said as if it was some brand new discovery, and Dominic sighed loudly, albeit with a smile on his lips. He grabbed the bottle of body wash handed to him, pouring some liberally down Matthew’s back before beginning to scrub with his hands. “Don’t start massaging me again, I might pop a boner.”

“You know that only encourages me to start,” Dominic retorted in a low voice that made Matthew shudder, even under the hot spray of water. His hands continued to spread the soap up and down Matthew’s back, watching the tattoo on his shoulder disappear under the suds. “Seriously though, is this...?”

Dominic’s unfinished question was indeed asked with the tone of his voice. “Well.... yeah,” Matthew said shakily, looking down to see his cock at half-hardness again. “It’s sensitive skin... Dom!”

Soapy and slick, Dominic’s hand had slid around Matthew’s hip to curl around his cock from behind him. “Dom,” Matthew sighed wantonly, turning awkwardly in the shower so he stood face to face with Dominic, water dripping from their bodies and hair plastered against their foreheads. “Hardly fair now, is it,” Matthew said, reaching for Dominic, other hand spreading soap suds across Dominic’s chest.

“How about if I...”

Dominic stepped forward so he was flush with Matthew, taking both of them in one, strong hand. Matthew moaned and Dominic latched onto his mouth, the kiss wet and sloppy. The steam curled around their bodies, the water now pouring down Matthew’s back as he took the brunt of the spray, his hands roaming Dominic’s back as Dominic worked both of their cocks.

Soon enough, Matthew’s legs began to shake and he shouted Dominic’s name as he reached his orgasm. Dominic watched in fascination as Matthew came, watched the way his come dribbled down the side of his own cock, and that did it for him, tipping his head back as he was pulled over the edge by Matthew.

“Christ,” Matthew wheezed a few seconds later as Dominic released their cocks. “I need to sit down.”

“Now _you’re_ sounding like the old man,” Dominic laughed, and Matthew flicked water at him, only causing him to laugh harder. “Come on, let’s get clean.”

After separately washing themselves (to avoid wasting even more water by becoming further distracted), Matthew and Dominic dried themselves off, wrapping towels around their waists as they headed back into Matthew’s bedroom. Dominic slumped down on the lower and cleaner end of the bed, while Matthew delicately moved the acoustic guitar from his desk chair so he could sit there. Absentmindedly, he strummed a quiet few chords which morphed into a riff that Dominic had once heard but couldn’t quite recognise.

“Play me a song?” Dominic asked, sitting up on the bed to watch Matthew properly. Matthew’s eyes traced a droplet of water that ran down Dominic’s chest, settling in the dusting of hair between his nipples.

“Any requests? I can do a cover, or an original, or I can make something up if you want,” Matthew grinned, and the glint in his eye made up Dominic’s mind for him.

“Go on then, make something up, show me what you can do,” Dominic dared. Matthew flashed a grin in return, sitting up in his chair a bit and adjusting his position. He tried a few chords, before nodding to himself, Dominic watching the slide of his fingers along the strings.

“ _So I met this guy, he’s pretty rad,_ ” Matthew sang, Dominic immediately blushing. “ _Shame he’s my teacher but at least he’s not my dad_.”

Allowing himself a pause for a giggle and to think of the next lines, Matthew continued. “ _I sucked him off once, twice if he’s lucky._ ” Matthew winked at Dominic, who tried his hardest to muffle his laughter. “ _He has a great dick, I like it when we... fuck-y_.”

“Matt,” Dominic laughed, wiping a tear from his eye, or perhaps concealing his blush. “That’s not a proper--”

“Shut the fuck up, I’m serenading you,” Matthew said without heat, giggling again before clearing his throat.

“ _He’s a bit of a prick,_ ” he sang loudly, only causing Dominic to laugh louder. “ _He told me off in class. I forgive him though, because he has a_ great _arse_.”

Smiling, Matthew lowered his voice for the final verse of his little improvisation. “ _So basically he’s fab, fits me like a glove_ ,” he sang softly, before looking up at Dominic and maintaining eye contact. “ _I don’t know how he feels, but, I think this might be_...”

Matthew let the unfinished song hang heavy in the air, as he ducked his head and blushed. Dominic remembered his manners, closing his previously slack mouth and sitting forward on the bed, reaching for Matthew’s hand. “Matthew, I--”

The telephone rang.

Matthew looked up at Dominic, the blush now fading in his cheeks but the smile completely gone. The solemnity of the telephone ringing shrilly once more, piercing their silence, hung heavy in the air. “I have to...”

Dominic sat back, allowing Matthew to put the guitar down and leave the room, footsteps heavy on the stairs. They both knew how this telephone call would go.

Heart in his throat, from the song or the results of the telephone call, he wasn’t quite sure, Dominic finished drying himself off in Matthew’s absence, pulling on boxers before sitting and waiting at the edge of the bed, anxious.

Matthew’s returning footsteps were much less hurried than the ones that had fled down the stairs. In the bottom of his gut, Dominic knew.

Hovering in the doorway, Matthew ran a hand through his still damp hair, not quite meeting Dominic’s eyes. “She’s gone,” he muttered.

Dominic opened his arms without a word, and Matthew found his home in them. He buried his face in the crook of Dominic’s shoulder, Dominic running his hand through Matthew’s hair as the boy himself had just done. “I’m sorry,” Dominic mumbled, holding Matthew as tight as he dared.

“I’m not... I’m not even that sad, really,” Matthew said, swallowing hard as he pulled back to look at Dominic. “I’m just...” he sighed. “I’m just glad she’s not in pain anymore.”

“I know how that feels,” Dominic said, Matthew’s absence of grief bringing his own to the forefront of his consciousness. Matthew picked up on his tone, cocking his head infinitesimally. “I...” Dominic started, before sighing and dropping his head slightly.

Matthew reached for Dominic’s face in perhaps one of the most tender gestures he had ever made in his life. “Dom,” he said softly, tipping his chin up again. “You can tell me.”

“I don’t want to upset you,” Dominic said, words catching in the back of his throat. Matthew shuffled in his lap slightly, wrapping his arm around Dominic’s back that little bit tighter as he continued to stroke his cheek.

“Whatever it is, it’s upsetting you,” Matthew began, “and a problem shared is a problem halved. Nan used to say that all the time and you’d be doing her a dishonour if you didn’t heed her advice now.”

A ghost of a smile flashed across Dominic’s face at the fondness of Matthew’s words, before he took a deep breath. “I had a brother. Daniel.”

Matthew’s eyes flickered back to Dominic’s. “Had,” he breathed, the word heavy with implication and catching in his throat.

Dominic nodded, taking a shuddering breath, pain flaring in his chest from reopening an old, emotional wound. “He was my twin.”

“ _Dom_ ,” Matthew uttered, his tone laden with heartbreak, face wearing the saddest expression he had ever seen. Dominic closed his eyes with a miniscule sigh.

“I didn’t want to upset you,” Dominic said, backing out of where he was going before he could cause himself too much pain.

“Dominic Howard,” Matthew said sternly, and Dominic opened his eyes to Matthew’s tight pout across his lips and icy blue eyes. “My thoughts and feelings are the least of your concerns right now. I want you to tell me, if you will,” Matthew said, his tone gradually softening as he stroked Dominic’s cheek again.

Arching into the touch, Dominic let his eyes flutter closed for a moment before he continued. “I had a twin, Daniel,” he repeated. “We were inseparable as we grew up, like all twins are,” he said, smiling fondly at the memory of his brother. Matthew smiled in encouragement, softly stroking Dominic’s back in reassurance. “We were eighteen, had just finished A-Levels. He was going to go to uni in Scotland, he got into St Andrews, clever bastard,” Dominic joked, before his face fell again. “He played loads of sport, he was always off playing rugby or footie or whatever was in season. Mum and Dad barely raised an eyebrow when he said he was in pain a lot, we all just presumed it was from all the running around he did.”

Matthew’s face fell out of the corner of Dominic’s eye. He continued staring at the carpet; the feeling of Matthew’s body under his hands gave him the strength to keep talking, but he knew that the look in Matthew’s eyes if he risked a glance would freeze those words in his throat.

“Eight weeks,” he said, his voice cracking. “That’s all it took.”

Matthew understood everything that Dominic wanted to say. He wrapped his arms around Dominic entirely, pulling him into a hug that had the power to leave bruises, pouring all of his emotion into it. “Shh, it’s okay,” Matthew found himself saying, completely forgetting that he had returned upstairs to find comfort for his own grief. The role-reversal had knocked him off kilter slightly, but he was rising to the challenge.

“It’s not that...” Dominic sniffed, and Matthew’s heart rose to his throat when he realised what that meant. “It’s not that I haven’t mourned him. I have. I’ve had a good five years. It’s just...”

Dominic made a sound like a half-laugh, and Matthew pulled back to look at him in confusion.

“I’ve been preparing myself for this day, for a while. You know... telling a significant other about Daniel.” Matthew tried to ignore the way his stomach flipped at those words. “I just... got a bit overwhelmed, because...”

“He was your twin, Dom,” Matthew said quietly. “I’m an only child, I’ll never know what having a brother or sister is like, let alone a twin, so I can’t even comprehend...” Matthew’s words hung in the air, but Dominic appreciated every single one.

“You don’t have to,” Dominic whispered, and Matthew pressed a chaste kiss to his cheek. “Just... I wish we’d noticed sooner. You know how it is, the sooner you catch cancer, the sooner it can be cured.”

Matthew let out a breathy “yeah”, and vowed in that moment that he never wants to see Dominic like this again. He wished he could be some kind of omnipresent force in the universe, so he could simply erase cancer, erase Dominic’s heartbreak and sorrow and guilt, and bring back his twin, the person who’d been at his side before he’d even been born. “You can’t blame yourself,” Matthew found himself mumbling, running a hand up and down Dominic’s back. “It’s not your fault.”

“I know,” Dominic said, shifting Matthew in his lap slightly, his legs beginning to lose their feeling. He opened his mouth to say something, but sighed and simply said “I know,” once more.

“I would give up absolutely anything to bring Daniel back for you.”

Dominic met Matthew’s eyes, finding only absolute sincerity and resolve there. A violent emotion burst across his chest and up his throat so quickly that he only just had time to formulate the words:

“I think I’m in love with you.”

Matthew pulled back a little, regarding Dominic curiously, and Dominic felt his heart sink and crash down into his stomach at the hesitation. Had he been too hasty? Had he misjudged Matthew’s affection? Had he--?

But then, Matthew’s confused expression morphed into one of happiness, so long deserved for the both of them.

“I’m glad,” Matthew said quietly, reaching out to find Dominic’s hand. “Because I think I’m in love with you, too.”


	8. Chapter 8

Matthew couldn’t remember the last time he was held so tightly.

Time felt suspended as Dominic’s arms held him, and as he held Dominic in return. Their grief hung silently around them as they took comfort in the heat of each other’s skin, the sound of each other’s breath and the feel of each other’s hearts beating against their own chests.

Eventually, with a few muffled questions and reluctant answers, they untangled themselves to get dressed, then heading downstairs for a breakfast so late it was practically lunch.

“Alright,” Matthew said, leaning against the cabinet behind him as they stood in the kitchen. “I’ve got Coco Pops, and Mum eats some bran cardboard shit, or you can have some toast if you want.”

“You make a wonderful hostess,” Dominic said, crossing his arms over his white t-shirt.

Matthew grinned, regardless of the “fuck off” he quipped in return. “I’m not going to make it for you, either. You’re the one who knows how to fend for himself, uni and all.”

“Still doesn’t mean I like it. You’ve seen how much takeaway I order each week, right?” Dominic flashed a smile. “What are you having, then?”

“Coco Pops,” Matthew replied. The implied “duh” went unvoiced.

“Alright, I’ll have some too. Throwback to when I was twelve and couldn’t make my own--  _ow_ ”

Matthew had slapped Dominic playfully across the arm, but ran to the other side of the kitchen giggling as Dominic menacingly picked up the tea towel by its corner. “No, no,” Matthew wheezed out between giggles, until Dominic put the towel back down and allowed Matthew to cross the room again. “Anyway,” he managed, before he laughed once more. “I’m not twelve. You’d be in a lot of trouble if I was.”

Dominic groaned. “You are disgusting, Matthew Bellamy.”

“S’why you love me,” Matthew breathed with a smile wide upon his face, inches from Dominic own. The word hung between them, Matthew’s infectious grin pulling Dominic’s lips across his face in reflection.

“Hmm. I suppose that’s why,” Dominic said, leaning in minutely to press a chaste kiss to Matthew’s lips. “Now come on, where do you keep the cereal. I bet you buy the boxes that come with prizes too, don’t you?”

They continued bickering as they made their cereal, Dominic in charge of pouring the milk as Matthew made a cup of tea for them both (“You take two sugars with your tea? You’re dead to me.” “Says the man who doesn’t take any milk  _at all_ .”). Matthew’s heart panged with longing for domesticity like this on a more permanent basis, but he knew that was but a dream in their current situation. They ate their breakfast as they watched terrible Saturday morning television, Matthew huffing angrily about the lack of Jeremy Kyle (“But could you imagine us being on it?  ‘Teacher seduced by unruly student.’” “Nah, deffo ‘teacher seduced innocent student, now demanding DNA tests for illegitimate child.’”). Bowls set on the coffee table and tea gingerly sipped at, Matthew lay the full length of the sofa with his head in Dominic’s lap, the teacher absentmindedly playing with his hair.

“Scotland,” Dominic said quietly, after their last conversation ran out of steam.

Matthew lifted his head slightly, his expression unreadable. “Scotland?” he asked in a quiet voice, shifting on the sofa so he could look at Dominic better. The teacher smiled fondly, tracing his fingers along Matthew’s cheek gently.

“Yeah. Scotland,” Dominic repeated.

They stared at each other in contemplative silence for a few moments, weighing up their world which hung up by the ceiling, ready to come crashing down around them at any second.

“It would take time,” Dominic said carefully, deliberately. “Nothing before Christmas.”

Delight spread across Matthew’s face, and Dominic realised in that moment that he would never be able to say ‘no’ to him.

“You could spend Christmas here, if you wanted,” Matthew said quietly, staring up at the ceiling and no doubt his imagination filling the blank expanse with rich images. “I would’ve told Mum by then, I guess. We always get a bit lonely, it’d be nice to have someone else in the house.”

“I go to my parents’ house, usually,” Dominic said, stroking the hair out of Matthew’s eyes, coiling locks around his index finger lazily. “They’ve got two little dogs there, and I’d feel guilty not spending time there after what happened with Dan.”

“Yeah,” Matthew breathed, eyes fluttering shut. He reached out for Dominic’s other hand, which until then had been just resting lightly on his stomach. They both smiled as their fingers entwined. “Would we get a dog?”

“What kind of dog?” Dominic asked, amused.

“One of the bigger ones, not one of those ankle-snapping things. Like a lab, one I could go out walking or running with.” Dominic snorted and Matthew’s eyes flew open. “What?!”

“You don’t strike me as the running type,” Dominic smirked, barely suppressing laughter.

“More of a running type than you, Tubs,” Matthew snapped without any real malice, poking Dominic in the belly. Dominic’s tickling onslaught in return soon had Matthew begging for mercy. “Alright, alright. We could go running together.”

“Yeah? And who’s paying the bills while we’re out running.”

“You are,  _obviously_ , Mister I-Speak-French-To-Seduce-My-Boyfriend.”

“It worked though,” Dominic smiled, and Matthew sat up to meet Dominic for a kiss.

“Barely,” Matthew breathed against Dominic’s lips, a smirk forming in the corner of his mouth. “I’ve just taken pity on you and decided to keep you for a while.”

“As long as ‘a while’ is actually ‘a bloody long time’, I’m not really all that bothered.”

Matthew grinned as Dominic kissed him, yet they parted before it became too heated, Matthew shifting on the sofa to lean his head against Dominic’s shoulder. Silence washed over them once more as they contemplated the changes separately.

“I’d start college.”

Dominic’s eyebrows raised at that. “Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Matthew said, nodding his head determinedly. “I’ve got my AS levels, should be able to top them up to full A levels or something, or maybe do a short music course. Might go to uni somewhere up there, or maybe just get a decent job. Got to help pay the bills for that dog and all the takeaway you eat,” Matthew said, smirking towards the end.

“ _We_ eat,” Dominic corrected. “We can get some tonight, too. Maybe a curry or Chinese, if you want.”

“Sounds good,” Matthew said, playing idly with Dominic’s fingers. “Would you teach? Still?”

Dominic let the question hover for a few moments before he chose to answer it, watching Matthew worry his lip with his teeth. “Yeah. I’d been thinking about quitting, because of all this, but there isn’t really anything I’d rather be doing, I do enjoy teaching languages. I could even learn another, or start doing private tutoring.”

“Private tutoring, ey? I’d be up for that,” Matthew grinned, nudging Dominic in the side. With a playful growl, Dominic tackled him so his student lay with his back flat on the sofa, arms pinned above his head.

“ _Tu m’énerves_ ,” Dominic said, but Matthew laughed underneath him, a smile growing on his face. With a sigh, Dominic plopped down on top of the boy, ignoring the loud squeak of protest at the sudden weight on his chest. “You know,” Dominic said eventually. “If we waited until May, maybe June--”

“No,” Matthew said, a hard edge to his voice. “I can’t wait that long.”

Dominic nodded against his chest, Matthew’s heartbeat wild under his ear. “You’re brave,” Dominic whispered, turning his face upwards when Matthew tugged on his hair. “You’re so young, yet you’re so fearless. Ready to give up everything for someone you’ve only just met, really.”

“I’ve known you for like, three years now.”

“That’s not the point, Matt,” Dominic said, tracing his fingers over Matthew’s pouting mouth. “It was a compliment. When I was seventeen, the thought of settling down with anyone would’ve absolutely terrified me.”

“Yeah, well, you’re not just anyone,” Matthew said, tipping his chin up slightly. “You’re you, and you’re the only person I’d even consider doing this for.”

Dominic grinned. “That’s only because you haven’t met anyone else insane enough to follow your plans yet.”

“Oh, fuck off,” Matthew said as he rolled his eyes, but the fond smile was playing at the corners of his mouth. His long fingers weaved through Dominic’s hair as they let the television quietly drone on in the background. “I love you, you know.”

Dominic smiled, letting his eyes fall shut as he listened to the now steady beat of Matthew’s heart. “I do. You’re the exact opposite of everything I ever wanted in a partner, and I love you all the more for it.”

“If that’s a compliment, I’m taking it,” Matthew said, Dominic breathing a laugh against his chest. He allowed himself to indulge, only for a moment, in a brief daydream, one of them wearing matching suits and Dominic himself standing up to a crowded room of people, explaining why he’d married his husband even though everything was against them. He opened his eyes again and the daydream vanished, tucked away for further reflection later on.

They stayed on the sofa for most of the afternoon, only moving for cups of tea or the occasional toilet break, but mostly curled together, sharing body heat. They watched the James Bond film that was showing on the movie channel (“He’d get it.” “For fuck’s sake Matt, you’ve said that at least once during every film we’ve watched together.” “I have to keep my options open. One day, a 2006 version of Daniel Craig might turn up on our doorstep and I might have a split second to decide if he’d get it or not. I want that decision made in advance.”), they kissed lazily during the sex scenes and they quietly spoke of their plans during the ad breaks.

Eventually, Dominic’s stomach growled loudly and Matthew woke from his light doze, draped across Dominic’s body.

“I’m starving,” Dominic declared as he gently guided a sleep-limp Matthew off his body, sitting up and groaning as he stretched his legs. “Want me to get us some takeaway?”

“Chinese sounds good,” Matthew mumbled, stretching his arms above his head. “We can go to the place down the road.”

“Nah, you can stay here. Keep the sofa warm,” Dominic said as he mussed Matthew’s hair, laughing as the student’s expression darkened petulantly. “Do you know what you want? I can call you from the shop if they’re out, or something.”

Matthew pouted. “I don’t have your number.”

“Oh,” Dominic said. Belatedly, he added: “do you want it?”

Matthew threw his hands out to the sides. “Duh!  _Yes_ ! I can send you naughty texts while you’re not here then.”

“Of course. Because what else do teenagers use their phones for,” Dominic muttered to himself, handing his phone to Matthew as Matthew did the same to him.

“Just be grateful I’m not a fan of dick pics. I’m really not photogenic down there, lovely as it is in the flesh.”

Dominic stopped typing his number into Matthew’s phone to gape at him. “I can’t believe I’m going to move halfway across the country for you.”

Matthew beamed back. “Yeah, I’d quit while you’re ahead to be honest.”

Numbers exchanged, Matthew saw Dominic to the door, where he pulled on his shoes and a jacket. Matthew had written down the numbers that made up his order on a scrap piece of paper, pressing it into Dominic’s hand. “And pick up some chopsticks too. I’m shit with them but it’s better than doing the washing up.”

“Alright,” Dominic said, nodding as he stepped out of the door. “Call your mum, while I’m not here. Have a good chat, you know? Remember you’re not the only one grieving.”

A sad look passed over Matthew’s features then, and Dominic stroked his knuckles against Matthew’s cheekbone, not caring who saw. “I love you,” Matthew whispered.

“I love you too. Find a good film to watch, yeah?” Dominic said, kissing Matthew on the lips before turning and walking towards the takeaway.

The road Matthew lived on was mainly residential, but within a few minutes of walking he found himself on a sort of high street that sprawled along one of the arterial routes into the city centre. He found the Chinese easily enough after he crossed the road, the shop front clad in reds and golds. The smell of cooking made him smile as he entered, placing his order and then Matthew’s. He pulled out his phone to send a text to Matthew.

_They’re out of Coke. Is Pepsi alright? x_

The reply was instant.

_**no, r u insane?! fanta or something is ok xx** _

Dominic smiled, amending the order and sitting down on the plastic chairs pressed against the wall to wait for it. He was already sending the next text.

_Got Fanta instead. Have you rang your mum? xx_

_**yeah she didnt want to talk much, didnt want to make me sad. i said i had a friend staying over to keep me company, shes ok with it xxx** _

Dominic was smiling at his phone when his order was called out. He picked up the carrier bag sat on the counter and exited the shop, phone still in hand.

_I think the guy fancies me. He gave me some free fortune cookies xx_

**_if ur fortune is “u will receive a dick sucking tonight” then its 100% accurate xxxxx_ **

Dominic laughed to himself as he glanced up, narrowly missing walking straight into an elderly lady. His ability to text and walk at the same time wasn’t the greatest.

_I’m already regretting giving you my phone number xxx_

**_im already planning our first round of phone sex now. u’ll thank me soon enough xxxxx_ **

Dominic stepped off the pavement as his phone buzzed, instinctively looking down at the screen to see it was a text from Matthew. The phone flew from his hand as he rolled up the bonnet of the car, head cracking against the windshield. He heard a squeal of brakes as his body fell to the ground again, their dinner lost somewhere on the other side of the road. He opened his eyes, watched the red liquid dribble across the tarmac, and tiredly wondered if that was the sauce from Matthew’s dinner. He wanted to text him to say he’d be a few minutes late, but he couldn’t feel his fingers, and the pain in his head was too much.

He shut his eyes, a smile barely twitching his lips, as people started shouting around him. He thought of Matthew, and how all the odds had been against their happiness.

The irony made him laugh, choking on his own blood.


	9. Epilogue

_Five years later_

Matthew looks out over the endless blue ocean, that familiar aching feeling in his chest flaring up again. He swallows hard, turning his back on the view to face the courtyard of the school.

“ _Mathieu_!” a little girl cries, perhaps four or five, and Matthew picks her up, swinging her high in the air as she giggles endlessly. “ _Puis-je apprendre les couleurs en anglais aujourd’hui?_ ” she asks breathlessly, the last word a fast jumble of syllables that three years ago, Matthew would’ve balked at.

“ _Oui ma petite, bien sûr_ ,” he replies, finding himself smiling. “ _Vas-y, j’ai un cours._ ”

He pats her on the back and she skips away to the rest of her friends, long plaits flying behind her. Matthew adjusts his casual shirt cuffs, the only thing smart about his outfit: the language school is perfectly happy for their teachers to wear shorts and flip flops in the heat, which is exactly what he does. He runs a hand through his hair, still as thick and fluffy as it was five years ago, and heads into the cool shade of his classroom where his group of sixth form aged students are waiting for him.

“Hi everyone,” he calls out as a smile grows on his face, the class responding in that wonderful kind of English that’s heavily tainted by a French accent. Since living in the country, he’s come to love everything about it, even the tiniest things that annoyed him when he began studying it at college, aged just seventeen.

He wished, sometimes, that he’d appreciated it more when he’d been young with a fantastic teacher. He shook those thoughts out of his head, especially with the lesson to come.

“Alright,” he says, making sure he doesn’t babble or use slang words. “Today, we’re going to talk about emotions, relationships, love, et cetera. Move the tables so we’re in a little circle.”

The students start moving around as Matthew looks through his notes on his desk. He puts his right hand on his hip, fingers absentmindedly pressing into the skin there, praying for courage or hope or a freak thunderstorm to get him out of this lesson. It’s the hardest one for him to teach, but at the same time it’s one of his favourites.

“Great,” he says to the students, eagerly sitting in a circle with their vocabulary notebooks on their laps. He’d never been that ready to learn as a student, until he left sixth form and went to college. “So, what is love?”

A few of the girls nervously titter, yet one puts her hand up. “Yes, Léna?”

“Love is...” she begins, slowly and surely choosing her words. “Love is when you cannot imagine life without the person you love.”

Matthew tries not to wince.

“When you want to pass each minute with the person you like,” one of the boys offers. Matthew leans against his desk, raising one slender finger in the air.

“Spend. You _spend_ time with people, you don’t pass time. That’s a faux-ami. And remember, _aimer_ is simply like, and _aimer bien_ is love, it’s a big difference in English,” he explains, and the teenagers eagerly write it down. He wonders briefly if his seventeen year old self would’ve ever believed himself capable of being fluent in French.

Then again, he wonders if his seventeen year old self had absolutely any idea quite how much his life would change.

The discussion continues, each of the students offering up their own opinion of what love is, or the relationships they’ve been in, and Matthew offers corrections where necessary.

“Matt, what do you think about love?” Léna asks eventually, and his stomach sinks and his chest gets tight; he’s been expecting this.

“I fell in love very young,” he starts, hand automatically coming to rest on his hip, rubbing his shirt into the skin below it. “I was seventeen, the age you lot are now, and I fell in love, absolutely, completely. I haven’t... that was five years ago, and I haven’t felt anything like it since. Not even close.”

The room fell silent, save for the cries of birds over the bay, and the sound of children laughing in the courtyard. “What had happened?” Léna asks, curious yet with sadness in her tone.

“We were going to move to Scotland. Buy a house, get a pet, start a life together.” Matthew pauses, swallowing hard. “He died. He was hit by a car.”

“ _Mes sincères condoléances_ ,” Léna stutters eventually, too moved to speak anything but her native language.

Matthew nods, muttering a thanks under his breath. “He was a French teacher, so I decided to learn French in his memory... _pour me souvenir de lui_ ,” he translates, the students nodding. “I studied it for two years, then moved here to keep studying, and start teaching English.” Matthew’s smiling as he finishes explaining, wondering what Dominic would say if he were still here.

“Wait,” one of the other girls says. “He was a teacher, and you were...?”

She leaves the question unasked, but when Matthew laughs the other students loosen up a bit. “Don’t get any ideas,” he warns them. “Now, family relationships.”

The conversation continues, Matthew easily guiding them through topics until their hour is up. He watches them file out, his last class for the day, and after signing out with the main office he makes his way down onto the beach. The afternoon heat is soon too much, and as he sits down on the white sand he takes off his shirt, revealing all three of his tattoos.

“I need to get another one, soon,” he mutters. “Got that itch again. I would’ve persuaded you to have one, eventually.”

Matthew doesn’t quite remember when this beach became the place that reminded him of Dominic the most; he’d never even found out where in France his boyfriend had spent his summers as a student. He knew Dominic’s parents had scattered his ashes on the beach of his hometown somewhere in southern England, so Matthew hadn’t been surprised when he found himself drawn to this particular beach when he wanted to reflect.

His fingers trace the words on his right hip, something he’d spent months deciding on and had waited until he was eighteen to get it inked legally. His mother had contributed money to it, even though she’d never met Dominic; Matthew had explained, and his grief alone was enough to convince her. It had come as a surprise to them both when one day the idea just clicked, incredible in its simplicity.

He strokes the skin there tenderly, the black ink now just over four years old. The words “ _tu me manques toujours_ ” are still there, just above where Dominic’s thumb would’ve come to rest when he held Matthew by the hips.

“I’m happy here, finally. I still miss you, of course I still fucking miss you. I don’t want to go out and find someone else, because all I want is you, still, after all this time.” Matthew sighs, his hand falling from his hip to drag a finger through the sand. “September’s always the hardest, not just because the school gets busy, it’s because...”

Matthew looks out towards the ocean, where a small child is playing with her father in the waves. “I wish you were here with me,” he mumbles, his grief rearing up again, the dark monster he’d just escaped when he’d been so young and the world had been so raw. “You’d be so proud of how I cleaned my act up, how I worked so hard, how I... it was all you. You changed my life, absolutely, you made me into a better person... Nowhere near as good as you are, but...”

Heaving a sigh, Matthew realises he’s been drawing a heart into the sand for the last few minutes. He smiles, then looks up to the cloudless sky. “Thank you, Dom,” he says. “For everything. _Je t’aime_.”

He hopes that Dominic hears him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you to everyone who read through this, whether you've been here since the beginning or have read it all in one go - I really appreciate every reader, please leave a bit of kudos if you liked it to let me know you were here!


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